Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Pusillanimous |
PusillanimousAdjective1. Lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution; contemptibly fearful. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "pusillanimous" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Etymology: Pusillanimous \Pu`sil*lan"i*mous\, adjective. [Latin expression pusillannimis; pusillus very little (dim. of pusus little boy; compare to puer boy, English puerile) animus the mind: compare to the French expression pusillanime. See Animosity.]. (references) |
Synonyms: PusillanimousSynonyms: poor-spirited (adj), unmanly (adj). (additional references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain (The Wizard of Oz; writing credit: L. Frank Baum; Noel Langley) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| "Pusillanimous" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Pusillanimous" is used about 10 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 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 100% | 10 | 111,207 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
pusillanimous | 5 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "pusillanimous"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | zemërlepur (cowardly, lily livered, weak-kneed, weak-spirited), frikacak (chicken heart, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, Craven, dastard, dastardly, faint-heart, faint-hearted, funk, milk-livered, poltroon, recreant, scary, sneak, sneaking, white livered, yellow, yellowbellied, yellow-livered), frikac. (various references) | |
Arabic | جبان (apprehensive, chicken, chicken heart, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, cur, faint, fearful, fearsome, funk, funky, heartless, lily livered, pigeon-hearted, poor spirited, scared, sheepish, shy, sissified, sissy, spiritless, timid, timorous, tremulous, unmanly, weak-kneed), رعديد (cowardly, poor spirited, timid). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | малодушен (chickenhearted, cowardly, hen-hearted, lily livered, poor spirited, recreant, weak-kneed, white livered), плах (faint, furtive, mousey, nervy, pigeon-hearted, stealthy, timid, tremulous, wan). (various references) | |
Czech | bojácný (chicken hearted, cowardly, fearful, nervous, timid, weak-kneed). (various references) | |
Farsi | ترسو (Caitiff, Gunshy, Meticulous, Pigeon, Shamefaced, Sheepish, Shy, Skittish, Timid, Timorous, Yellow), ضعیف (Anemic, Atonic, Infirm, Languid, Lean, Light, Puny, Rickety, Sappy, Shaky, Slack, Slender, Weak), جبون (Timorous), بزدل (Coward, Timorous). (various references) | |
French | pusillanime. (various references) | |
German | verzagt (despondent, despondently, despondingly, desponds, disheartened, gives up hope). (various references) | |
Greek | μικρόψυχοσ (faint-hearted), μικρόψυχος (allied shearwater, little shearwater), δειλόσ (bashful, boggler, chicken, chicken hearted, coward, dastardly, faint-hearted, fearful, lily livered, mealymouthed, sheepish, shy, skittish, skulker, timid, timorous, weak-kneed, white livered, yellow). (various references) | |
Hungarian | pipogya (gutless, invertebrate, soppy), kislelkű, kishitû (defeatist), kishitű (half-hearted), csüggeteg, bátortalan (diffident, dispirited, faint, faint-hearted, fearsome, half hearted, half-hearted, low-spirited, poor spirited, shy, timid, timorous, unmanly). (various references) | |
Italian | pusillanime (faint-hearted). (various references) | |
Manx | lhag-spyrrydoil, lambaanagh (childish, childlike, doting, infantile). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | usillanimouspay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | tímido (afraid, apprehensive, backward, bashful, blushing, diffident, eery, faint-hearted, fearful, fearsome, gawk, mousey, mousy, poor-spirited, rabbity, shamefaced, sheep-faced, sheepish, shy, timid, timorous, tremulant, tremulous, unassertive), covarde (caitiff, chicken-hearted, coward, cowardly, craven, dastard, dastardly, faint-hearted, funk, funky, lily-livered, milk-livered, milksop, recreant, scaramouch, slag, sneaking, white-livered, yellow-livered). (various references) | |
Romanian | temãtor (cowardly, fearful, suspecting, suspicious, timid, timorous, yellow), lipsit de curaj, fricos (apprehensive, caitiff, chicken hearted, coward, cowardly, Craven, cur, dastard, eerie, eery, faint-hearted, fearful, funky, hare-hearted, hen-hearted, lily livered, milk-livered, mollycoddle, Patsi, pigeon-hearted, piker, poltroon, poor spirited, shy, spiritless, timid, timorous, white livered, yellow). (various references) | |
Russian | малодушный (chicken hearted, chicken-hearted, cowardly, fainthearted, hen-hearted, weak-kneed, weak-spirited, white livered, white-livered). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | malodušan (fainthearted, low-spirited, poor spirited, spiritless, timorous, weak-spirited). (various references) | |
Spanish | pusilánime (faint-hearted). (various references) | |
Swedish | modlös (down-hearted). (various references) | |
Thai | ขี้ขลา" (chicken, chickenhearted, chicken-hearted, coward, cowardly, faint-hearted, lily-livered, tame). (various references) | |
Turkish | pısırık (diffident, jellyfish, shy, spiritless, unenterprising), tabansız (poltroon), korkak (caitiff, chicken, chicken hearted, chicken-livered, cissy, coward, cowardly, Craven, dastardly, dingo, faint, faintheart, fainthearted, fearful, funk, funky, gutless, hen-hearted, lily livered, milksop, milquetoast, pigeon livered, pigeonhearted, poltroon, poor spirited, rabbit, recreant, scary, sissy, skulking, sneak, sneaking, sneaky, spiritless, timid, unmanly, weak-spirited, white livered, yellow, yellow dog), ödlek (chicken, chicken hearted, chicken-livered, cowardly, fainthearted, hen-hearted, pigeon livered, pigeonhearted, poltroon, rabbit, recreant, white livered, yellow dog). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | yếu hèn, nhát gan (chicken-hearted, chicken-livered, coward, faint-hearted, milk-livered, poor-spirited, white-livered), hèn nhát; nhu nhược. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | pusillis. (various references) |
| Late Latin | 300-700 | pusillanimis. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "pusillanimous": pusillanimously. (additional references) | |
| |
"Pusillanimous" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: pucillanimous, puisillanimous, pulsillanimous, pusalanimous, puscillanimous, puselanimous, pusilanamous, pusilanemous, pusilanimous, pusillanamous, pusillanimos, pusillanimpous, pusillanimpus, pusillanimus, pusillanious, pussilanimous, pussillanimous. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "pusillanimous" (pronounced 'Pu`sil*lan"i*mous'): Abnormous, Achymous, Acrotomous, Aetheogamous, Agamous, Allogamous, Allonymous, Amphigamous, Amphistomous, Anadromous, Androtomous, Angiomonospermous, Angiospermous, Angiostomous, Anonymous, Antidromous, Antistrumous, Aspermous, Athalamous, Athermous, Autogamous, Autonomous, Azymous, Bigamous, Biramous, Blasphemous, Brumous, Campylospermous, Catadromous, Catanadromous, Chromous, Chymous, Coelospermous, Defamous, Flammivomous, Flavicomous, Flexanimous, Floricomous, grumous, gymnospermous, Hemigamous, Homochromous, Homodynamous, Homogamous, infamous, Limous, Lipothymous, Lithodomous, magnanimous, Malacostomous. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-i-i-l-l-m-n-o-p-s-s-u-u" | |
-3 letters: impulsions. | |
-4 letters: allusions, alpinisms, aluminous, illusions, impassion, impulsion, pollinium, spoilsman. | |
-5 letters: allusion, alpinism, illusion, laminous, lampions, liaisons, luminous, lupulins, malisons, millions, misplans, mullions, nauplius, palliums, pianisms, pillions, plasmins, plasmons, plimsols, pollinia, pullmans, pulsions, sinapism, sinopias, solanums, spumonis, sunlamps, upsilons. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-i-i-l-l-m-n-o-p-s-s-u-u" | |
+2 letters: pusillanimously. | |
| 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. Synonyms 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage Frequency | 5. Expressions: Internet 6. Translations: Modern 7. Translations: Ancient 8. Derivations | 9. Rhymes 10. Anagrams 11. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
