little

English Online Dictionary. What means little‎? What does little mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English litel, from Old English lyttel, lȳtel, from Proto-West Germanic *lūtil, from Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz (“tending to stoop, crouched, little”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to bend, bent, small”), equivalent to lout +‎ -le. Cognate with Dutch luttel, regional German lütt and lützel, Saterland Frisian litje, West Frisian lyts, Low German lütt, lüttje. Related also to Old English lūtan (“to bow, bend low”); and perhaps to Old English lytiġ (“deceitful”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍄𐍃 (liuts, “deceitful”), 𐌻𐌿𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lutjan, “to deceive”); compare also Icelandic lítill (“little”), Faroese lítil, Swedish liten, Danish liden, lille, Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (leitils), which appear to have a different root vowel. More at lout.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪtl̩/, [ˈlɪtʰɫ̩]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪt(ə)l/, [ˈlɪɾɫ̩], [ˈɫɪɾɫ̩]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈlɪt(ə)l/, [ˈlɪɾɫ̩]
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈlɘtl̩/
• Homophone: Littell
• Hyphenation: lit‧tle
• Rhymes: -ɪtəl

Adjective

little (comparative less or lesser or littler, superlative least or littlest)

1. Small in size.
   1. Small and underdeveloped, particularly (of a male) in the genitals.

      Synonyms: small, under-endowed
2. Insignificant, trivial.
   1. (offensive) Used to belittle a person.

3. Very young.

4. (of a sibling) Younger.

5. (often capitalized) Used with the name of a place, especially of a country or its capital, to denote a neighborhood whose residents or storekeepers are from that place.
   • 1871 October 18, The One-eyed Philosopher [pseudonym], "Street Corners", in Judy: or the London serio-comic journal, volume 9, page 255 [2]:

     If you want to find Little France, take any turning on the north side of Leicester square, and wander in a zigzag fashion Oxford Streetwards. The Little is rather smokier and more squalid than the Great France upon the other side of the Manche.
   1. (derogatory) To imply that the inhabitants of the place have an insular attitude and are hostile to those they perceive as foreign.
6. Having few members.

7. (of an industry or other field, or institution(s) therein, often capitalized) Operating on a small scale.

8. Short in duration; brief.

9. Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.

Usage notes

Some authorities regard both littler and littlest 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 forms lesser and least are encountered in animal names such as lesser flamingo and least weasel.

Antonyms

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

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Jamaican Creole: likl, likkle

Translations

Adverb

little (comparative less or lesser, superlative least)

1. Not much.

   We slept very little last night.
2. Not at all.

Antonyms

• much

Translations

Determiner

little (comparative less, superlative least)

1. Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).

Usage notes

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:

With no article or the definite article (or what), the emphasis is on the scarcity:

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "not much"): much

Translations

See also

• a little

Pronoun

little

1. Not much; not a large amount.

Noun

little (countable and uncountable, plural littles)

1. (chiefly uncountable or in the singular) A small amount.

2. (countable, informal) A child; particularly an infant.
3. An adult in a child-like role:

   Antonym: big

   1. (countable, university slang) A newly initiated member of a sorority or fraternity, who is mentored by a big.
   2. (countable, BDSM, ABDL) The participant in ageplay who acts out the younger role.
   3. (countable) One who has mentally age regressed to a childlike state.
4. Short for little go (“type of examination”).

   (Can we find and add a quotation of John Henry Newman to this entry?)

   I go up for my Little tomorrow.

Derived terms

• little space

Related terms

• a little
• li'l, li'l', lil
• little by little
• little old
• belittle (cognate verb)

Anagrams

• tillet