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Glite Dictionary
🐔 A small chicken 🐓 Small and bold
banty

banty

1 9.2
A small chicken often lively and bold
  • noun
  • /ˈbæn.ti/
  • UK
translation icon : bantam
  • She called him a banty because of his small stature and lively personality.
  • banty rooster

Examples

  • I'm gonna get me some Banty hens.

    The Flim-Flam Man (1967)

  • One banty sat on green apples for weeks.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • "You have to act like a banty rooster.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Puffed up like a banty rooster.

    The Woman King (2022)

  • He was just a little banty; couldn't have weighed three pounds.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Billy gestures at the banty rooster and raises his empty glass.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The banty rooster strutted around the yard, showing off its vibrant feathers.

  • At the farm, we have several banty hens that lay tiny but delicious eggs.

Synonyms

bantam
vsbanty
4 8.1

A small breed of chicken with lively behavior

is also used for a small lively person often with a bold attitude
bantling
vsbanty
  • Offensive
9.9

A person others treat as not important

is a livelier, often positive term used for bold small people or small chickens

Antonyms

calm
735 1.0

Not showing strong feelings and being very still

How Lively

live wire
  • Informal
2 4.6
bundle of energy
  • Informal
1 3.4
banty
  • UK
1 9.2

Surface Forms

banty singular
banties plural

Morphology

banty = bantam (transparent) = bantam + y

The noun sense ('a small breed of chicken' or a small lively person) is a direct use of the base 'bantam' in colloquial form with '-y'.

Etymology

Banty is named after the little bantam chicken from Banten in Indonesia, so a banty hen is a tiny, proud bird. By the same idea, a 'banty' person is someone small, lively, and bold.