midget

Diminutive of midge (from Old English myċġ (“mosquito”), from Proto-Germanic *mugjō, from Proto-Indo-European *mus-, *mu-, *mew-; cognate with Dutch mug (“mosquito”) and German Mücke (“midge, gnat”)), using the suffix -et, originally (1865) for a "little sand fly", only around 1869 also a "very small person".

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪd͡ʒɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪd͡ʒɪt

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Portrait of Sebastián de Morra (c. 1645) by Diego Velázquez. The subject of the painting, a midget or dwarf, was a jester at the court of Philip IV of Spain.

midget (plural midgets)

1. (originally) A little sandfly.

   Although tiny and just two-winged, midgets can bite you till you itch all over your unprotected skin.

2. (loosely) Any small swarming insect similar to the mosquito; a midge.
3. (sometimes offensive) A normally-proportioned person with small stature, usually defined as reaching an adult height less than 4'10". [from later 19th c.]
4. (sometimes offensive) Any short person.
5. (attributively, now sometimes offensive) A small version of something; miniature.

   the midget pony

• Used for an insect, this is a variation on midge that is commonly used.
• Use of this word may be considered offensive, even when describing something other than a person.[1]

• (person below 4'10"): dwarf (loosely), little person
• (derogatory: any small person): dwarf, short-arse, shortie/shorty, tich/titch, vertically challenged person (humorous)
• (swarming insect): midge
• (miniature): dwarf
• munchkin
• elf

• (derogatory: any small person): giant
• (miniature): giant

• (a small person): manikin, homunculus, pygmy, lilliputian

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024), “midget”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.