meschino

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

• meschinamente
• meschinità

 

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