meschino

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مِسْكِين (miskīn) from Aramaic מסכנא (meskēnā), derived from Akkadian 𒈦𒆕𒂗 (muškēnum, “villein, indigent; class of people dependent or reliant on others, unable to provide supplies on their own; commoner”). The Akkadian term is first recorded in early dynastic Sumer. Compare French mesquin, Portuguese mesquinho, Sicilian mischinu, Spanish mezquino.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /meˈski.no/
  • Rhymes: -ino
  • Hyphenation: me‧schì‧no

Adjective

meschino (feminine meschina, masculine plural meschini, feminine plural meschine)

  1. (literary) unfortunate, unlucky
    Synonyms: disgraziato, infelice, sfortunato, sventurato, (literary) tapino
    Antonyms: felice, fortunato
  2. (obsolete) servile, servantlike
  3. inadequate, insufficient, meager, measly
    Synonyms: inadeguato, insufficiente, miserabile, misero, povero
    Antonyms: adeguato, congruo, dignitoso, giusto
  4. (uncommon) frail, weakly (of a person's body)
    Synonyms: debole, esile, fragile, gracile
    Antonyms: florido, forte, robusto
  5. (derogatory) petty, narrow-minded; wretched
    Synonyms: arido, gretto, misero
    Antonyms: aperto, generoso, magnanimo, liberale, nobile
  6. poor (used to express commiseration in Liguria)

Derived terms

Noun

meschino m (plural meschini)

  1. (literary) an unfortunate or unlucky person
  2. (obsolete) servant, subordinate
    Synonyms: servo, sottoposto
  3. wretch

Further reading

  • meschino in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
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