Did you know that "bantamweight" is a weight class in boxing?

I did not, so I missed that question on Jeopardy!, but I got to look up the word bantam and discover that it's pretty neat, with applications far beyond boxing. Let's explore it!

First, check it out in this absolutely perfect example sentence, from Nancy Farmer's book The House of the Scorpion: "'I'm the only one small enough to fit,' he said, swaggering around like a bantam rooster."

That sentence shows you what bantam means: small but scrappy, little but feisty, short but cocky, petite but swaggering. And, it shows you the literal, original meaning of bantam: it's a kind of rooster or chicken.

That means we can add bantam to our list of interesting synonyms for small, dainty, and undersized, which includes dim____ive ("very small compared to most other similar things or people")' lil____ian ("very small, like a race of fictional people in a certain novel"), and, if you want to get extreme, ex__uous ("too small"), and inf__ites__al ("extremely tiny").

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)  

The word "bantam" might come from the name of a province on the island of Java, in Indonesia, today spelled "Banten," the place where bantam chickens are said to come from originally. 

(Source)

Beside Edwina on the left, a Barred Rock chicken, there's Betsy on the right, a bantam chicken. Awww.

Though adorable, bantam chickens and roosters are known to be aggressive. Especially the males, who have a reputation as feisty little fighters.

So if you describe someone as bantam, or as a bantam, you mean they're small but aggressive.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

A noun, the countable kind: "She's a bantam;" "They raise bantams."

Also an adjective: "a bantam hen," "their bantam energy."

Other forms: 

Just the plural, "bantams."

how to use it:

Pick the quirky, semi-common word "bantam" when you want to compare someone's size and attitude to a feisty little chicken or rooster.

You might say that someone is a bantam, or a bantam man or woman, or a bantam of a man or woman. Here's the New York Times: "Mr. Palmieri, an ebullient bantam of a man." And here's Ralph Ellison: "I looked at him again as for the first time, seeing a little bantam rooster of a man."

Or you might say that someone has a bantam body, a bantam spirit or attitude, or bantam zeal or energy.

examples:

"He had a tough bantam body, easily detectable under the tight sweat shirt he wore." 
   — John Knowles, A Separate Peace, 1959

"At the half-century mark, an age when many plays, not to mention many people, are showing signs of flab, Mr. Albee's scalding drama of marital discord still retains the bantam energy and strong bite of its youth."  
  — Charles Isherwood, New York Times, 14 October 2012

has this page helped you understand "bantam"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "bantam" without saying "short" or "pugnacious."

try it out:

So far, we've seen the word "bantam" as a kind of mild insult. But it doesn't have to be that way.

For example, Scientific American described the "briefcase-size probes" that captured photos of Mars in 2018 as "bantam spacecraft," implying that they're incredibly powerful for their teeny size.

Could you think of another example of something tiny but powerful that you might call "bantam"?

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Words On Words On Birds."

Use your knowledge of vocabulary to answer questions about the terminology describing names for birds.

Try this today:

What does it mean for a species to be incertae sedis?

A. to have an uncertain gender
B. to have an uncertain mating season
C. to have an uncertain taxonomic position or seat
D. to have an uncertain price or value as a game bird

Need a hint? Highlight the hidden text: Think of the meaning of words like sedentary and saddle.

To see the answer, scroll all the way down. 

review this word:

1. A near opposite of BANTAM could be

A. SPARSE.
B. HEAVYWEIGHT.
C. INTELLECTUAL.

2. Richard Corliss praised Sam Rockwell for his role as a _____ in Seven Psychopaths, pulling off an "intense and acute bantam lunacy."

A. tall, charming womanizer
B. scrappy, profane little fighter
C. bumbling, lovable crackpot inventor

Answers to the review questions: 1. B 2. B From the game: What does it mean for a species to be incertae sedis? A. to have an uncertain gender B. to have an uncertain mating season C. "to have an uncertain taxonomic position or seat" is the correct answer. D. to have an uncertain price or value as a game bird Incertae sedis means "uncertain seat," or more fully, "having an uncertain position in taxonomy." Here's an example from the All Birds of the World fandom: "Bocage's Longbill, Amaurocichla bocagei, is a species of passerine bird that belongs to the superfamily Passeroidea. Since it is unclear to which family it belongs, it is classified as Passeroidea incertae sedis."

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.