karzeł

Inherited from Old Polish karzeł, from Middle High German karl, karle, from Old High German karl, karal, from Proto-Germanic *karilaz (“little man, young man”), diminutive of *karaz, probably from Proto-Indo-European *ǵerh₂- (“to become old, to grow”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈka.ʐɛw/

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• Rhymes: -aʐɛw
• Syllabification: ka‧rzeł

karzeł m anim (diminutive karzełek or karlik, feminine karlica)

1. dwarf (short mythical humanoid)
2. midget, dwarf (unusually short person)
3. runt, dwarf (unusually small animal or plant)
4. midget, dwarf (something relatively bad in some characteristic or in some area) (usually with a specifying adjective describing it)
   • 2011 December 29, “Jerzy Buzek: Unia to gospodarczy gigant i polityczny karzeł”, in Rzeczpospolita‎, archived from the original on 2022-03-15:

     Unia to gospodarczy gigant i polityczny karzeł.

     The Union is a giant in economics and a midget in politics.

5. dwarf star (unusually dim star)

• karzeł in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• karzeł in Polish dictionaries at PWN