pissant

noun

1. Slang: Vulgar. a person or thing of no value or consequence; a despicable person or thing.
2. Obsolete. an ant.

adjective

3. Slang: Vulgar. insignificant or worthless.

noun

1. an insignificant or contemptible person

adjective

2. insignificant or contemptible

n.1660s, “an ant,” from first element of pismire (q.v.) + ant. Meaning “contemptible, insignificant person” is from 1903. “[B]y sun-down [the gals] come pourin out of the woods like pissants out of an old log when tother end’s afire.” [“Dick Harlan’s Tennessee Frolic,” in collection “A Quarter Race in Kentucky,” Philadelphia, 1846]