paltry

English

Alternative forms

• paultry, paultrie, palterey

Etymology

From Middle Low German paltrig ‎(“ragged, rubbishy, worthless”), from palter, palte ‎(“cloth, rag, shred”), from Old Saxon *paltro, *palto ‎(“cloth, rag”), from Proto-Germanic *paltrô, *paltô ‎(“scrap, rag, patch”). Cognate with Low German palterig ‎(“ragged, torn”), German dialectal palterig ‎(“paltry”). Compare also Low German palte ‎(“rag”), West Frisian palt ‎(“rag”), Saterland Frisian Palte ‎(“strip; band; tape”), German dialectal Palter ‎(“rag”), Danish pjalt ‎(“rag, tatter”), Swedish palta ‎(“rag”). See also palterly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔːltɹi/

Adjective

paltry ‎(comparative paltrier, superlative paltriest)

1. trashy, trivial, of little value

   This is indeed a paltry flyer about a silly product.

   She made some paltry excuse and left.

2. meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling

   Could someone hope to survive on such a paltry income?

   Student grants these days are paltry, and many students have to take out loans.

Usage notes

• Nouns to which "paltry" is often applied: sum, rate, amount, number, price, salary, wages, fellow, pay, excuse, income, gain, compensation.

Translations

trashy, trivial, of little value

• Dutch: triviaal (nl), pietluttig (nl)
• Finnish: surkea (fi)
• French: dérisoire (fr)

• Italian: ridicolo (it) m, insignificante m, modesto (it) m, irrisorio (it) m, insufficiente (it) m, miserabile (it)
• Polish: kiepski (pl) m
• Portuguese: pobre (pt) m, insignificante (pt) m
• Russian: пустяко́вый (ru) ‎(pustjakóvyj), незначи́тельный (ru) ‎(neznačítelʹnyj)

meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling

• Dutch: armzalig (nl), meelijwekkend, beklagenswaardig (nl),waardeloos (nl)
• Finnish: mitätön (fi)
• French: misérable (fr), dérisoire (fr)
• German: mager (de), armselig (de)

• Greek: ισχνός (el) ‎(ischnós)
• Polish: marny (pl) m
• Russian: жа́лкий (ru) ‎(žálkij)
• Swedish: ynklig (sv), futtig (sv)

Anagrams

• partly
• raptly