Dwarfs

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Being much smaller than average or expected size; to overshadow or dominate in importance or impact; diminutive figures from folklore known for their craftsmanship and habitation in mineral-rich places
2. A descriptor for someone or something significantly lesser in height or dimension; to make someone or something appear insignificant in comparison; mythical beings associated with underground realms and precious metals
3. Referring to entities that are notably compact or reduced; to render another less formidable or prominent in status; legendary creatures often depicted as skilled workers in various crafts and trades

Etymology: The plural of "dwarf" is simply the regular "-s" form of the noun, so the interesting history belongs to the singular. Its ancestor, Old English "dweorg", is a survivor of an old Germanic word that is shared across the northern languages: Old Norse "dvergr", Old High German "twerc", and Dutch "dwerg" all descend from the same root, so the creature is a Germanic inheritance rather than a borrowing. The English word has an odd sound history. Regular change turned Old English "dweorg" into "dwarf", but the plural "dweorgas" and the oblique stem "dweorge-" would, by the same rules, have produced "dwarrows" and "dwery". Those forms do turn up in Middle English texts and in dialects, so the word briefly had several competing shapes before "dwarf" won out. A parallel case is "burg", which gave us "borough", "burrow" and "bury" from one ancestor.

Synonyms: midgets, diminutives

Antonyms: giants, colossuses