paltry

English

Alternative forms

• paultry, paultrie, palterey (obsolete)

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”). Of uncertain ultimate origin, but perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *polto- (“cloth”), see also Proto-Slavic *poltьno (“linen”).

Cognate with Low German palterig (“ragged, torn”), dialectal German palterig (“paltry”). Compare also Low German palte (“rag”), West Frisian palt (“rag”), Saterland Frisian Palte (“strip; band; tape”), dialectal German Palter (“rag”), Danish pjalt (“rag, tatter”), Swedish palta (“rag”). See also palterly.

Pronunciation

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑltɹi/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒltɹi/, /ˈpɔːltɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔltɹi/, /ˈpɑltɹi/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Homophone: poultry (UK)

Adjective

paltry (comparative paltrier, superlative paltriest)

1. Trashy, trivial, of little value.

   Synonyms: insignificant, unimportant, petty, trivial, beggarly

   This is indeed a paltry flyer about a silly product.

   She made some paltry excuse and left.

   • 1921, Edward Sapir, Language: An introduction to the study of speech:

     There are a great many languages, like Eskimo and Nootka and, aside from paltry exceptions, the Semitic languages, that cannot compound radical elements.

2. Of little monetary worth.

   Synonyms: 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.

   • c. 1589–1590 (date written), Christopher Marlo[we], edited by Tho[mas] Heywood, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act I:

     As for those Samnites, and the men of Uz,
     That bought my Spanish oils and wines of Greece,
     Here have I purs'd their paltry silverlings.
     Fie, what a trouble 'tis to count this trash!

   • 2022 July 8, Daniel Boffey, “Collapsing public support suggests Brexit is anything but done”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Meanwhile, the trade deal has left Britain’s fishing communities screaming betrayal, unhappy with their paltry gains and facing expensive barriers to export what they have caught.

3. Despicable; contemptibly unimportant.

   a paltry coward

   • 1928, William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium:

     "An aged man is but a paltry thing, / A tattered coat upon a stick"

Derived terms

• paltriness

Collocations

with nouns

• paltry sum
• paltry rate
• paltry amount
• paltry number
• paltry price
• paltry salary
• paltry wages
• paltry fellow
• paltry pay
• paltry excuse
• paltry income
• paltry gain
• paltry compensation

Translations

trashy, trivial, of little value

• Bulgarian: дребен (dreben), незначителен (bg) (neznačitelen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 無價值／无价值 (wújiàzhí)

• Czech: ubohý (cs), mizerný (cs)
• Dutch: triviaal (nl), pietluttig (nl)
• Finnish: surkea (fi)
• French: dérisoire (fr)
• German: geringfügig (de), dürftig (de)
• Greek: τιποτένιος (el) m (tipoténios), ασήμαντος (el) m (asímantos), μηδαμινός (el) m (midaminós)

  Ancient: φαῦλος (phaûlos)

• Italian: ridicolo (it) m, insignificante (it) m, modesto (it) m, irrisorio (it) m, insufficiente (it) m, miserabile (it)
• Japanese: 僅かばかりの (わずかばかりの, wazuka bakari no)
• Maori: hauarea, hauwarea, paraurehe, kūrapa, koroiti, tangatakimōrī, tātakimōri
• Norwegian: ussel
• Polish: kiepski (pl) m
• Portuguese: pobre (pt) m, insignificante (pt) m, pífio (pt)
• Russian: пустяко́вый (ru) (pustjakóvyj), незначи́тельный (ru) (neznačítelʹnyj), ничтожный (ru) (ničtožnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: tričav (sh)
• Spanish: insignificante (es), ridículo (es)

meager; worthless; pitiful; trifling

• Arabic: بَخْس (ar) (baḵs)
• Bulgarian: жалък (bg) (žalǎk), нищожен (bg) (ništožen)
• Czech: nicotný, ubohý (cs), mizerný (cs)
• Dutch: armzalig (nl), meelijwekkend (nl), beklagenswaardig (nl), waardeloos (nl)
• Finnish: mitätön (fi)
• French: misérable (fr), dérisoire (fr)
• German: mager (de), armselig (de), schäbig (de)
• Greek: ισχνός (el) (ischnós), μηδαμινός (el) m (midaminós)
• Japanese: 取るに足らぬ (とるにたらぬ, toruni taranu)
• Polish: marny (pl) m
• Portuguese: pífio (pt)
• Russian: жа́лкий (ru) (žálkij), презренный (ru) (prezrennyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: mizeran (sh), bijedan (sh), bedan (sh)
• Spanish: irrisorio (es), miserable (es)
• Swedish: ynklig (sv), futtig (sv)

References

• Weijnen, A.A. (2003) Etymologisch dialectwoordenboek‎^[2] (in Dutch), The Hague: Sdu Uitgevers, →ISBN

Anagrams

• partly, raptly