thumbling means A tiny, thumb-sized person; manikin. It carries an Arena rating of 1596, earned across 8 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, thumbling ranks #26 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,874 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,267 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #2,316 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
Why “thumbling” is a great word
THUMBLING — [Noun] A tiny, thumb-sized person or creature; a manikin, or anything comparably small. From thumb (the digit) + -ling (diminutive suffix), formed on the model of similar Germanic words like Dutch duimeling, Middle Low German dûmelinc, and German Däumling. Unlike "homunculus" (which denotes an alchemist's concocted miniature man) or "dwarf" (which conjures a stout, subterranean being of considerably greater stature), a thumbling is a creature of folkloric accident, born of pure and simple littleness. It is the child hidden in a horse's ear to avoid conscription, the adventurer sailing a walnut-shell boat across a soup-bowl sea, the single stitch of embroidery mistaken for a whole, elaborate coat—a testament to the profound, perilous wonder of being inconsequentially small in an overwhelmingly large world.
Etymology
From thumb + -ling. Compare Dutch duimeling, Middle Low German dûmelinc, dûmelink, German Däumling. Compare also Icelandic þumlungur (“thumb; inch”) (measurement).
noun
- A tiny, thumb-sized person; manikin
- Anything small, comparable to the size of a human thumbe.g.“Passing through the kitchen to the scullery, to which place she ordered us, I saw Deborah was very busy frying thumblings — small croquettes about the size of a big man's thumb — […]” — 1946, Thomas Fleming Day, The Rudder - Volume 62:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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