Definition of RUNT

runt

Plural: runts

Noun

  • A small or undersized animal or person.
  • disparaging terms for small people
  • The smallest animal of a litter.
  • The smallest child in the family.
  • Undersized or stunted plant, animal or person.
  • An uninfluential or unimportant person; a nobody.
  • An Ethernet packet that does not meet the medium's minimum packet size of 64 bytes.
  • A single word (or portion of a hyphenated word) that appears as the last line of a paragraph.
  • A breed of pigeon related to the carrier pigeon.
  • A hardened stem or stalk of a plant.
  • A bow.

Examples

  • Despite being a runt of a word, ’QI’ scores surprisingly well in Scrabble.
  • the runt of the family

Origin / Etymology

The OED classifies this word as "of obscure origin". Some see a connection to Middle Dutch runt (“ox”), but the OED considers this to be unlikely.

Synonyms

half-pint, peewee, shrimp, dwarf

Scrabble Score: 4

runt: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
runt: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
runt: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 6

runt: valid Words With Friends Word