different between dwarfish vs midget

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

English

Etymology

Diminutive of midge (from Old English mygg, my?? (“gnat”), from Proto-Germanic *mugj?, from Proto-Indo-European *mus-, *mu-, *mew-; cognate with Dutch mug (“mosquito”) and German Mücke (“midge, gnat”)), using the suffix -et, originally (1865) for a "little sand fly", only around 1869 also a "very small person".

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?d??t

Noun

midget (plural midgets)

1. (originally) A little sandfly.

   Although tiny and just two-winged, midgets can bite you till you itch all over your unprotected skin.

2. (loosely) Any small swarming insect similar to the mosquito; a midge.
3. (sometimes offensive) A normally proportioned person with small stature, usually defined as reaching an adult height less than 4'10". [from later 19th c.]
4. (sometimes offensive) Any short person.
5. (attributively) A small version of something; miniature.

   the midget pony

Usage notes

• Used for an insect, this is a variation on midge that is incorrect but commonly used.
• Use of this word to describe a short person may be considered offensive.

Synonyms

• (person below 4'10"): dwarf (loosely), little person
• (derogatory: any small person): dwarf, short-arse, shortie/shorty, tich/titch, vertically challenged person (humorous)
• (swarming insect): midge
• (miniature): dwarf

Antonyms

• (derogatory: any small person): giant
• (miniature): giant

Hyponyms

• (a small person): manikin, homunculus, pygmy, lilliputian

Translations

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “midget”, in Online Etymology Dictionary