Talk:picayune

1804, "coin of small value," probably from Louisiana French picaillon "coin worth 5 cents," earlier the French name of an old copper coin of Savoy (1750), from Provençal picaioun "small copper coin," from picaio "money," of uncertain origin. Adjectival figurative sense of "paltry, mean" recorded from 1813.


 * I've just removed the above material from our etymology for this word as it is identical to etymonline's entry on picayune. (Its presence also contradicted the rfe.) I am in the process of creating a better etymology incorporating the OED's etymology (and with, of course, original wording) but it's fairly complex, has required creating some other new entries and may require more, so I will come back to it asap.--Person12 (talk) 23:50, 6 February 2014 (UTC)