Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: PYGMIES |
PYGMIESPlural1. Of Pygmy |
Date "PYGMIES" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1808. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Pygmies (2 syl.). A nation of dwarfs on the banks of the Upper Nile. Every spring the cranes made war upon them and devoured them. They cut down every corn-ear with an axe. When Hercules went to the country they climbed up his goblet by ladders to drink from it; and while he was asleep two whole armies of them fell upon his right hand, and two upon his left; but Hercules rolled them all in his lion's skin. It is easy to see how Swift has availed himself of this Grecian legend in his Gulliver's Travels. Stanley met with a race of Pygmies in his search for Emin Pasha. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Crosswords: PYGMIES |
| Etymologies containing "PYGMIES": Pygmy. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I want to work with pygmies in Africa! (Bananas; writing credit: Woody Allen; Mickey Rose) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | England's nightmare. The Great Britain Gulliver overpowered and made helpless by French pygmies while asleep. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Honore de Balzac | Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Discrimination | Congo | The Fundamental Act specifically prohibits such discrimination; however, societal discrimination persisted in practice, particularly against women and Pygmies. (references) |
Economic History | Republic of Congo | Also present is a small population (less than 100,000) of Pygmies, ethnically unrelated to the Bantu majority. (references) |
Republic of Congo | First inhabited by pygmies, Congo was later settled by Bantu groups that also occupied parts of present-day Angola, Gabon, and Zaire, forming the basis for ethnic affinities and rivalries among those states. (references) | |
Indigenous People | Cameroon | An estimated 95 percent of Pygmies did not have national identity cards; most Pygmies can not afford or provide the necessary documentation to obtain the identification, which is required to vote in national elections. (references) |
Congo | Although they are citizens, most Pygmies continued to live in remote areas and took no part in the political process. (references) | |
Central African Republic | Pygmies often work for villagers at wages lower than those paid to members of other groups. (references) | |
Political Economy | Cameroon | Discrimination against indigenous Pygmies continued. (references) |
Political Rights | Congo | Pygmies continued to be excluded effectively from social programs and the political process, in part due to their isolation in remote forested areas of the country. (references) |
Worker Rights | Congo | There was no credible information on whether Pygmies were forced to work as indentured servants for Bantus. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "PYGMIES" is generally used as a noun (plural) -- approximately 90.00% of the time. "PYGMIES" is used about 40 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (plural) | 90% | 36 | 57,479 |
| Noun (proper) | 10% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 40 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Language | Translations for "PYGMIES"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||
Chinese | 侏' (Dwarf, Dwarfs, midget, Pygmy). (various references) | ||||
German | Zwergmenschen, Pygmäen. (various references) | ||||
Korean | "그미족 (Pygmy). (various references) | ||||
Pig Latin | ygmiespay | ||||
Misspellings | |
"PYGMIES" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: piggies, pigmyes, Pitmuies, pygmaea, pygme, pygmie, Pymmes. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "PYGMIES" (pronounced pi"gmēz) |
| 3 | -m ē z | academies, appendectomies, armies, commies, dummies, economies, enemies, lumpectomies, mastectomies, mommies, mummies, salamis, stymies, tonsillectomies, tummies, vasectomies, yummies. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-i-m-p-s-y" | |
-2 letters: gimps, gimpy, gipsy, pigmy, yipes. | |
-3 letters: egis, espy, gems, gies, gimp, gips, gyms, gyps, imps, megs, migs, mise, pegs, pies, pigs, pyes, semi, simp, sipe, yipe, yips. | |
-4 letters: ems, gem, gey, gie, gip, gym, gyp, imp, ism, meg, mig, mis, peg, pes, pie, pig, pis, psi, pye, seg, sei, sim, sip, spy, yep. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-i-m-p-s-y" | |
+3 letters: polygamies, pterygiums. | |
+4 letters: hypergamies, mycophagies, polygamizes, presumingly. | |
+5 letters: epistemology, kymographies, misemploying, polymerising, seismography, zygomorphies. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
