paltry

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒltɹi/, /ˈpɔːltɹi/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔltɹi/
• (cot–caught merger, US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑltɹi/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈpoːltɹi/
• 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:

     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"

References

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

Anagrams

• partly, raptly