paltry

English

Alternative forms

(obsolete) 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”). 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)

Trashy, trivial, of little value.
Synonyms: insignificant, unimportant, petty, trivial
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.
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, Christopher Marlo[we], Tho[mas] Heywood, editor, The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Ievv of Malta. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Nicholas Vavasour, […], published 1633, OCLC 1121318438, 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:
  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.
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
Russian: пустяко́вый (ru) (pustjakóvyj), незначи́тельный (ru) (neznačítelʹnyj)
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
Russian: жа́лкий (ru) (žálkij)
Serbo-Croatian: mizeran (sh), bijedan (sh), bedan (sh)
Spanish: irrisorio (es), miserable (es)
Swedish: ynklig (sv), futtig (sv)
Westrobothnian: pireli

References

Weijnen, A.A. (2003) Etymologisch dialectwoordenboek‎ (in Dutch), The Hague: Sdu Uitgevers, →ISBN

Anagrams

partly, raptly