picayune
NOUN:
1. (formerly, in Louisiana, Florida, etc.) a coin equal to half a Spanish real.
2. any small coin, as a five-cent piece.
3. Informal. an insignificant person or thing.
4. a town in SE Mississippi.
5. the half real, an old Spanish-American coin.
6. US. any coin of little value, esp a five-cent piece.
7. a Spanish half real piece formerly current in the South.
8. half dime.
9. something trivial.
Examples:
(noun) our lives don't amount to a picayune in the great scheme of things; (adj) They argued over the most picayune details. —Merriam-Webster.
Origin:
1780–90; <Provençal picaioun small copper coin (compare French picaillons), derivative of an onomatopoetic base *pikk- beat, here referring to the coining of coppers. Dictionary 2: C19: from French picaillon coin from Piedmont, from Provençal picaioun, of unknown origin. —Dictionary.com. //
First Known Use of picayune: Noun: 1804. Adjective: 1836. History and Etymology for picayune: Noun: Occitan picaioun, a small coin, from picaio money, from pica to jingle, of imitative origin. —Merriam-Webster.
See "Did You Know?" at Merriam-Webster *
Sources: 1, 2.
1. (formerly, in Louisiana, Florida, etc.) a coin equal to half a Spanish real.
2. any small coin, as a five-cent piece.
3. Informal. an insignificant person or thing.
4. a town in SE Mississippi.
5. the half real, an old Spanish-American coin.
6. US. any coin of little value, esp a five-cent piece.
7. a Spanish half real piece formerly current in the South.
8. half dime.
9. something trivial.
Examples:
(noun) our lives don't amount to a picayune in the great scheme of things; (adj) They argued over the most picayune details. —Merriam-Webster.
Origin:
1780–90; <Provençal picaioun small copper coin (compare French picaillons), derivative of an onomatopoetic base *pikk- beat, here referring to the coining of coppers. Dictionary 2: C19: from French picaillon coin from Piedmont, from Provençal picaioun, of unknown origin. —Dictionary.com. //
First Known Use of picayune: Noun: 1804. Adjective: 1836. History and Etymology for picayune: Noun: Occitan picaioun, a small coin, from picaio money, from pica to jingle, of imitative origin. —Merriam-Webster.
See "Did You Know?" at Merriam-Webster *
Sources: 1, 2.