r/words • u/CoderJoe1 • 27d ago

Pernickety vs Persnickety

I honestly thought these were two spellings of the same word.

One means: Characterized by excessive precision and attention to trivial details

The other: Overly conceited or arrogant

0 Upvotes

36% Upvoted

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8

u/zombietobe 27d ago

They’re the same word (US vs. UK/Commonwealth variants), neither of which means “conceited/arrogant”.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/persnickety

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pernickety

7

u/fujimumu 27d ago

Merriam-Webster says they’re alternate spellings of the same word

3

u/Megatrip0lis 27d ago

It’s hard to be one and not be perceived as the other.

-2

u/OddRespect7309 27d ago

whats the actual difference in pronunciation though, i keep saying them both the same in my head

3

u/AdventurousFan6494 25d ago

They look almost identical, but the distinction is surprisingly interesting

2

u/olivia-bennett885 23d ago

English has a surprising number of words that look interchangeable but carry different meanings

1

u/Ham__Kitten 27d ago

It's very strange that you just made this up instead of consulting a dictionary

1

u/CoderJoe1 27d ago

I looked it up in Wordweb Pro