Pissant (insect)

Pissant means a thing that is inconsequential, irrelevant, or worthless, and that is contemptible out of proportion to its significance. In conversations with his advisors during the Vietnam War, U.S president Lyndon B. Johnson often referred to Vietnam as "that damn piss-ant little country."

The original pissant is any of a certain group of large ant species, commonly called wood ants, that make mounded nests in British and European forests. The pissant name arises from the urine-like odor produced by their nesting material—pine straw and pine needles—and the formic acid that constitutes their venom. Formica rufa is one such ant, but there are others with similar characteristics.

In the United States, the word pissant can refer to any small ant that infests a home.