mezquino

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /meθˈkino/ [meθˈki.no]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /mesˈkino/ [mesˈki.no]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ino
• Syllabification: mez‧qui‧no

Inherited from Old Spanish mesquino (“poor; beggar, homeless”), also attested in the medieval period as mezquino, from Arabic مِسْكِين (miskīn, “poor”). The sense of “stingy” developed in the early modern period. Compare Portuguese mesquinho.

mezquino (feminine mezquina, masculine plural mezquinos, feminine plural mezquinas)

1. miserly, mean, stingy

   Era un padre mezquino, y a sus hijos no les compraba dulces no por salud sino por ahorrar.

   He was a stingy father, who wouldn't buy his children sweets, not for their health but to save money.

2. petty, small-minded

   Sería mezquino de mi parte no perdonarte por ello cuando no tenías toda la información sobre la situación.

   It would be petty of me to not forgive you for it when you did not have all the information about the situation.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

mezquino

1. first-person singular present indicative of mezquinar

• “mezquino”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10