What is "picayune"

Picayune \Pic`a*yune"\, n. [From the language of the Caribs.] A small coin of the value of six and a quarter cents. See Fippenny bit. [Local, U.S.]

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.

a. 1 petty, trivial; of little consequence; small and of little importance; picayunish; 2 Small-minded: being childishly spiteful, tending to go on about unimportant things. n. 1 (context US especially Louisiana archaic English) A small coin of the value of six and a quarter cents; a fippenny bit. 2 (lb en archaic) A five-cent piece. 3 Something of very little value; a trifle. 4 An argument, fact, corner case, or other issue raised (often intentionally) that distracts from a larger issue at hand or does not change a primary supposition, outcome, postulate, premise, conclusion, hypothesis, judgment or recommendation.

adj. (informal terms) small and of little importance; "a fiddling sum of money"; "a footling gesture"; "our worries are lilliputian compared with those of countries that are at war"; "a little (or small) matter"; "Mickey Mouse regulations"; "a dispute over niggling details"; "limited to petty enterprises"; "piffling efforts"; "giving a police officer a free meal may be against the law, but it seems to be a picayune infraction" [syn: fiddling, footling, lilliputian, little, Mickey Mouse, niggling, piddling, piffling, petty, trivial]

A picayune was a Spanish coin, worth half a real. Its name derives from the French picaillon, which is itself from the Provençal picaioun, the name of an unrelated small copper coin from Savoy. By extension, picayune can mean "trivial" or "of little value".

Aside from being used in Spanish territories, the picayune and other Spanish currency was used throughout the colonial United States. Spanish dollars were made legal tender in the U.S. by an act on February 9, 1793. They remained so until demonetization on February 21, 1857. The coin's name first appeared in Florida and Louisiana, where its value was worth approximately six-and-one-fourth cents, and whose name was sometimes used in place of the U.S. nickel.

A newspaper published in New Orleans since the 1830s, the Times-Picayune (originally The Picayune), was named after the coin.

Picayune is an obsolete term for a coin of small value. Its meaning has been extended to the figurative sense of "trivial" or "of little value".

It was originally used in France as the name of a small copper coin (picaioun or picaillon), and was later adopted in the Southern United States under an English re-spelling (picayune) to refer to a small Spanish coin, the half-real (see: Spanish colonial real). The term ultimately derives from the Provençal picaio, 'money'.

Picayune may also refer to:

• The Times-Picayune, a daily newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
• The Bloom Picayune, a fictional newspaper appearing in the Bloom County cartoon strip
• Picayune, Mississippi, a city in the southern United States
• Picayune Creek, a river in Iowa
• Picayune Strand State Forest, a protected area near Naples, Florida, United States
• John "Picayune" Butler, an influential black entertainer who lived in 19th century New Orleans
• Picayune cigarettes, a strong-tasting now-defunct brand previously marketed by Liggett & Myers
• Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians, the home of a federally recognized tribe of indigenous people of California