chétif

puny, scrawny; meagre, paltry

“Il lui semblait chétif, faible, nul, enfin être un pauvre homme, de toutes les façons.”

Inherited from Old French chaitif, caitif, from Vulgar Latin *cactivus, from a combination of Latin captīvus (“prisoner”) with Transalpine Gaulish *caxtos, from Proto-Celtic *kaxtos (compare Irish cacht, Welsh caeth). Compare also Italian cattivo (“bad”). See also French captif, a borrowed doublet.