Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
pernickety [per-nik-i-tee] ExamplesWord Origin adjective
Origin of pernickety 1800–10; orig. Scots; of uncertain origin; the prefix per- occurs in a number of other expressive words in Scots, e.g. pergaddus thump, clatter, perskeet fastidious, perjink trim, neatRelated formsper·nick·et·i·ness, noun Examples from the Web for pernickety Historical Examples of pernickety
You didn’t use to be so pernickety, when you was punchin’ on the range, Lon.
Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays
Various
I remember she was most pernickety about her blacks after my father’s death.
Rebecca West
She meant it was God’s house, I s’pose, but she needn’t have been so pernickety.
Grace Livingston Hill
British Dictionary definitions for pernickety pernickety US persnickety adjective informal
- excessively precise and attentive to detail; fussy
- (of a task) requiring close attention; exacting
Derived Formspernicketiness or US persnicketiness, nounWord Origin for pernickety C19: originally Scottish, of unknown origin Word Origin and History for pernickety adj.
1808 (pernicktie, in Jamieson), “precise, fastidious,” extended form of Scottish pernicky, of uncertain origin, perhaps somehow from particular.