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little

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Littleanda little

English

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 little on Wikipedia

Etymology

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FromMiddle Englishlitel, fromOld Englishlyttel,lȳtel, fromProto-West Germanic*lūtil, fromProto-Germanic*lūtilaz(“tending to stoop, crouched, little”), fromProto-Indo-European*lewd-(“to bend, bent, small”), equivalent tolout +‎-le. Cognate withDutchluttel, regionalGermanlütt andlützel,Saterland Frisianlitje,West Frisianlyts,Low Germanlütt,lüttje. Related also toOld Englishlūtan(“to bow, bend low”); and perhaps toOld Englishlytiġ(“deceitful”),Gothic𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍄𐍃(liuts,“deceitful”); compare alsoIcelandiclítill(“little”),Faroeselítil,Swedishliten,Danishliden,lille,Gothic𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃(leitils), which appear to have a different root vowel. More atlout.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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little (comparativelessorlesserorlittler,superlativeleastorlittlest)

  1. Small in size.
    This is alittle table.
    1. Small and underdeveloped, particularly(of a male) in the genitals.
      Synonyms:small,under-endowed
      • 2017, David Russell,Winston Patrick Mystery 2-Book Bundle‎[1], page70:
        "You are alittle, little man," she proclaimed, staring obviously below my waist as she pronounced the second "little." It was almost disappointing. I'd heard that one before, but it still left a new scar each time.
  2. Insignificant,trivial.
    It’s oflittle importance.
    1. (offensive)Used tobelittle a person.
      Listen up, youlittleshit.
  3. Veryyoung, ofchildhood age.
    Did he tell you any embarrassing stories about when she waslittle?
    That’s the biggestlittle boy I’ve ever seen.
  4. (of a sibling)Younger.
    This is mylittle sister.
  5. (often capitalized)Used with the name of aplace, especially of acountry or itscapital, to denote aneighborhood whoseresidents orstorekeepers are from that place.
    • 1871 October 18, The One-eyed Philosopher [pseudonym], "Street Corners", inJudy: or the London serio-comic journal, volume 9, page 255 [2]:
      If you want to findLittle France, take any turning on the north side of Leicester square, and wander in a zigzag fashion Oxford Streetwards. TheLittle is rather smokier and more squalid than the Great France upon the other side of the Manche.
    • 2004, Barry Miles,Zappa: A Biography, edition, published2005,→ISBN, page 5:
      In the forties, hurdy-gurdy men could still be heard in all those East Coast cities with strong Italian neighbourhoods: New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. A visit to Baltimore’sLittle Italy at that time was like a trip to Italy itself.
    • 2020, Richa Bhosale, “Croatian Hall in need of repairs to remain open”, inTimmins Daily Press:
      “The theatre was bought by the Croatian immigrants as so many immigrants came here in the ’30s and mostly for mining jobs, but in Schumacher itself it was calledlittle Zagreb, and Zagreb is the capital city of Croatia. There were so many of them that they wanted to have their own little community, so they bought the theatre and they renovated it at that time, remodelled it and made it into a Croatian Hall,” she explained.
    1. (derogatory)To imply that the inhabitants of the place have an insular attitude and are hostile to those they perceive as foreign.
      • 2012,Steve Coogan,Comedian Steve Coogan on Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre:
        He is the embodiment of Fleet Street bullying, using his newspaper to peddle hisLittle-England, curtain-twitching Alan Partridgesque view of the world, which manages to combine sanctimonious, pompous moralising and prurient, voyeuristic, judgmental obsession
  6. Havingfew members.
    little herd
  7. (of an industry or other field, or institution(s) therein, often capitalized) Operating on a smallscale.
    Little Steel
    smaller steel companies, as contrasted with Big Steel
    Little Science
    science performed by individuals or small teams, as contrasted withBig Science
  8. Short in duration; brief.
    I feel better after mylittle sleep.
  9. Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow, shallow, contracted; mean, illiberal, ungenerous.
    • 1855,Alfred Tennyson, “Maud”, inMaud, and Other Poems, London:Edward Moxon, […],→OCLC,page20:
      The long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise, / Because their natures arelittle.
    • 2001, Nicholas Petsalis-Diomidis,The Unknown Callas: the Greek Years, page547:
      Showing unmistakably what alittle person he really was, in June 1949 he wrote his newly married daughter with nauseating disregard for the truth

Usage notes

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  • Some authorities regard bothlittler andlittlest as non-standard. The OED says of the word little: "the adjective has no recognized mode of comparison. The difficulty is commonly evaded by resort to a synonym (as smaller, smallest); some writers have ventured to employ the unrecognized forms littler, littlest, which are otherwise confined to dialect or imitations of childish or illiterate speech." The formslesser andleast are encountered in animal names such aslesser flamingo andleast weasel.

Antonyms

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  • (antonym(s) of“small”):large,big
  • (antonym(s) of“young”):big
  • (antonym(s) of“younger”):big

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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small in size
insignificant, trivial
very young
(of a sibling) younger
small in number, few
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb

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little (comparativelessorlesser,superlativeleast)

  1. Not much.
    This is alittle known fact.
    She spokelittle and listened less.
    We slept verylittle last night.
    • 1914 November,Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, inMunsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.:The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published1915,→OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy),page373, column 2:
      Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to “Chat of the Social World,” gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl’s intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy—[…]—distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its flavor.
  2. Not at all.
    • 1879,R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, inThe Amateur Poacher, London:Smith, Elder, & Co., […],→OCLC:
      But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […], and a ‘bead’ could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge,little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.

Usage notes

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Today, the use of "little" fornot at all is mostly restricted tolittle did one know and similar constructions, likelittle did one realise orlittle did one care.

Antonyms

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Translations

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not much

Determiner

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little (comparativeless,superlativeleast)

  1. Notmuch, onlya little: only a small amount (of).
    There is (very)little water left.
    We had verylittle to do.
    • 2013 June 21,Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, inThe Guardian Weekly, volume189, number 2, page30:
      Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they hadlittle interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an “explosion.”

Usage notes

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Little is used with uncountable nouns,few with plural countable nouns.
Little can be used with or without an article. With the indefinite article, the emphasis is that there is indeed some, albeit not much:
We havea little money, so we’ll probably get by.
With no article or the definite article (orwhat), the emphasis is on the scarcity:
We havelittle money, andlittle hope of getting more.
The little (orWhat little) money we have is all going to pay for food and medication, so we can’t save any.

Antonyms

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  • (antonym(s) of“not much”):much

Translations

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small amount

See also

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Pronoun

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little

  1. Not much; not a large amount.
    Little is known about his early life.

Noun

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little (countable anduncountable,plurallittles)

  1. (chiefly uncountable or in thesingular) A small amount.
    Can I try alittle of that sauce?
    Little did he do to make me comfortable.
    If you want some cake, there’s alittle in the refrigerator.
    Manylittles make a mickle.(Scottish proverb)
  2. (countable, informal) Achild, particularly aninfant.
  3. Anadult in achild-likerole, or in the morejunior of twopaired roles.
    Antonym:big
    1. (countable, universityslang) A newly initiated member of asorority orfraternity, who is mentored by abig.
      • 2018, Kelly Ann Gonzales,Through an Opaque Window:
        He was there the night of Cristoph's party. All thelittles were assigned to their bigs. Ian and Christoph had rushed the same fraternity. When they became upperclassmen, they both ended up on the board.
      • 2019 April 1, Audrey Steinkamp, “Sororities pair new members with "bigs"”, inYale Daily News‎[3]:
        She added that the relationship between bigs andlittles is "what each pair makes of it," and that a lot of the pairs often get dinner together and become close friends.
      • 2022 September 27, Shreya Varrier, “Gamma Rho Lambda provides LGBTQIA+ community in greek life”, inIowa State Daily‎[4]:
        Some traditions of the chapter include lineages with bigs andlittles, receiving of paddles from a big, and a national stroll, Wolsch-Gallia said.
    2. (countable, BDSM, ABDL) The participant inageplay who acts out theyoungerrole.
    3. (countable) One who has mentally ageregressed to achildlike state.
      • 2019 August 30, Kimberly Holland,Healthline‎[5]:
        People with [dissociative identity] disorder frequently have a younger personality among their distinctive personalities. However, it’s believed that the "little" may not be a separate personality. Instead, it may be a regressed version of the original personality.
  4. Short forlittle go(“type of examination”).
    (Can wefind and add a quotation of John Henry Newman to this entry?)
    I go up for myLittle tomorrow.

Derived terms

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Related terms

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Anagrams

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