Dictionary

runt en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ɹʊnt/ (Northern-England)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ɹʌnt/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

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. Possibly connected to Icelandic hrotti meaning "brute".

Meanings

1. The smallest animal of a litter.
   • Sometimes, as we have seen, one member of a litter is a runt, much smaller than the rest. He is unable to fight for food as strongly as the rest, and runts often die. We have considered the conditions under which it would actually pay a mother to let a runt die. 1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, page 168:
2. (broadly) The smallest child in the family.
   • the runt of the family
3. Undersized or stunted plant, animal or person.
4. (slang) An uninfluential or unimportant person; a nobody.
5. An Ethernet packet that does not meet the medium's minimum packet size of 64 bytes.
6. A single word (or portion of a hyphenated word) that appears as the last line of a paragraph.
7. A breed of pigeon related to the carrier pigeon.
8. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) A hardened stem or stalk of a plant.
   • Neither young poles nor old runts are durable 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XVI.]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:
9. A bow.

Forms

Deriveds

runty · runting · kale runt · runt of the litter · runted · runt disease · runtling · runtish

Hypernyms

widow

Synonyms

dwarf

Translations (55)

gd an t-isean deireadh linn (smallest child in the family) · es pequeñajo (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · de Kümmerer (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · cs skrček (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · fi kuopus (smallest child in the family) · fi pahnanpohjimmainen (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · hu törpe (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · bg изтърсак (smallest child in the family) · cs zakrslík (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · fi tynkä (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · fr avorton (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · sh kȑžljavac (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · sh kržljavac (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · mi tīmohea (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · fi orpo (single word that appears as the last line of a paragraph) · de Zwerg (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · es enano (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · fr avorton (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · es benjamín (smallest child in the family) · cs benjamínek (smallest child in the family) · cs nedochůdče (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · ru после́дыш (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · mk кржле (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · fi rääpäle (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · de Winzling (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · de Kümmerer (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · ru недоро́сток (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · es shocoyote (smallest child in the family) · fi pätkä (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · nv nákʼeeshchąąʼí (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · fi jäänne (small Ethernet packet) · fi orposana (single word that appears as the last line of a paragraph) · cs zákrsek (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · ru короты́шка (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · hu kóró (hardened stem or stalk of a plant) · ru ши́бздик (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · mk кржле (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · ko 꼬마 (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · es benjamín (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · fi käppänä (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · de Kümmerling (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · sh kržljavica (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · ja ちび (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · sh кр̏жљавац (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · de Kümmerling (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · it piccoletto (smallest child in the family) · pl cherlak (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · bg джудже (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · es alfeñique (smallest child in the family) · ga abhaicín (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · de Zwerg (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · ko 작음 (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · ru ка́рлик (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person) · sq spurdhjak (the smallest or the weakest animal of a litter or a pack) · nv nákʼeeshchąąʼí (undersized or stunted plant, animal or person)