measly

Meaning

1. Particularly of pigs or pork: infected with larval tapeworms or trichinae (parasitic roundworms).
2. Of a person: infected with measles.
3. (figuratively, informal) Small (especially contemptibly small) in amount.

Synonyms

paltry

miserable

trivial

insignificant

wretched

piddling

scrappy

meager

meagre

two-penny

petty

scamp

scummy

trashy

trifling

worthless

chaffy

Translations

mezquino

mesquin

cimri

dürftig

misérable

miserable

schraal

meschino

minable

miserável

mesquinho

schäbig

misero

değersiz

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmiːzli/

Etymology

From measle (“singular of measles”) + -y; the word measle is either from Middle Dutch masel (“a blister filled with blood; a pustule, a skin blemish”), or Middle Low German masel (“a red skin blemish”), from Proto-Germanic *masuraz (“a knot or scar in wood; a knarl”), from *mas-, *mēs- (“a spot; a sore; a scar”), from Proto-Indo-European *mos- (“a skin sore”).