English

least

/liːst/
Chiefly used with abstract nouns: less than all others in extent or size; littlest, smallest.

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    The adjective, determiner, and noun are derived from Middle English leste, lest, last (“(adjective) smallest, least; (noun) smallest thing, etc.; person or thing least in importance; etc.”), from Old English lǣst, a contraction of læsast, læsest (“least”) (also lærest in only one source), from Proto-Germanic *laisistaz (“smallest, least”), from *laisiz (“less”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *leh₂is- or *leh₃is-; whence modern English less) + *-istaz (“suffix forming superlative forms of some adjectives”).

    The adverb and pronoun are derived from the adjective or determiner.

    cognates

    * Old Frisian leist

    * Old Saxon lēs

    Etymology 2

    Contraction of at least.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • rootProto-Indo-European*leh₂is-
    • rootProto-Indo-European*leh₃is-
    • inheritedMiddle Englishleste
      • inheritedOld Englishlǣst
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*laisistaz “smallest, least”

    Related: English less, Old Frisian leist, Old Saxon lēs

    Sources