different between bijou vs dwarfish

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bi??u?/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French bijou.

Noun

bijou (plural bijous or bijoux)

1. A jewel.
2. A piece of jewelry; a trinket.
3. A small intricate piece of metalwork.

Related terms

• bijoutry

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Sabir bijou, ultimately from Occitan pichon (“small, little”), influenced by English bijou (“jewel”).

Adjective

bijou (comparative more bijou, superlative most bijou)

1. (Polari) small, little (often implying affection)
2. (of a residence) small and elegant
   • 1891, A Scandal in Bohemia

     I soon found Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open.
3. intricate; finely made

Derived terms

• bijou problemette

Usage notes

Often used with -ette on the noun that it describes, as in the quotations given above, and bijou problemette.

References

Czech

Alternative forms

• bijí

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?jou?]
• Rhymes: -?jou?
• Hyphenation: bi?jou

Verb

bijou

1. third-person plural present indicative of bít

Dutch

Alternative forms

• byou (hyperforeignism)

Etymology

Borrowed from French bijou, from Breton bizoù.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi??u/
• Hyphenation: bi?jou
• Rhymes: -u

Noun

bijou m (plural bijoux or bijous, diminutive bijoutje n)

1. a piece of jewelry, often specifically with fake gems

Derived terms

• bijouterie

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Breton bizoù (“ring”), from biz (“finger”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bi.?u/
• Homophone: bijoux
• Rhymes: -u

Noun

bijou m (plural bijoux)

1. a piece of jewelry

Usage notes

Only seven words in French ending in -ou have their plurals in -oux instead of -ous: bijou, caillou, chou, genou, hibou, joujou, pou.

Derived terms

• bijoux de famille

Descendants

• ? Bulgarian: ????? (bižú)
• ? Dutch: bijou
• ? English: bijou
• ? German: Bijou
• ? Luxembourgish: Bijou

See also

• bijouterie
• bijoutier

Further reading

• “bijou” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

dwarf +? -ish

Adjective

dwarfish (comparative more dwarfish, superlative most dwarfish)

1. Like a dwarf; being especially small or stunted.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 2, [1]

     […] now does he feel his title / Hang loose about him, like a giant's robe / Upon a dwarfish thief.

   • 1757, Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, Section XXIV, in The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, London: John C. Nimmo, 1887, Volume I, p. 242, [2]

     Besides the extraordinary great in every species, the opposite to this, the dwarfish and diminutive, ought to be considered. Littleness, merely as such, has nothing contrary to the idea of beauty.

   • 1843, Edgar Allan Poe, "The Gold-Bug" [3]

     The vegetation, as might be supposed, is scant, or at least dwarfish.
2. Of, pertaining to, or made by or for dwarves.

   Dwarfish axes are some of the finest weapons available.

Translations