— picayunishly , adv. — picayunishness , n.
/pik'ee yoohn", pik'euh-/ , adj. Also, picayunish . Informal.
1. of little value or account; small; trifling: a picayune amount.
2. petty, carping, or prejudiced: I didn't want to seem picayune by criticizing.
n.
3. (formerly, in Louisiana, Florida, etc.) a coin equal to half a Spanish real.
4. any small coin, as a five-cent piece.
5. Informal. an insignificant person or thing.
[ 1780-90;
picaioun small copper coin (cf. F picaillons ), deriv. of an onomatopoetic base * pikk- beat, here referring to the coining of coppers ]
Syn. 1. trivial, insignificant. 2. narrow-minded.