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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

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English

little

/ˈlɪ.tl̩/
Small, not large, limited, particularly

    Etymology graph

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    • derived
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    • meaning component
    • sound component
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    Origin

    From Middle English litel, litell, luitel, lutel, lutil, luytel, from Old English lȳtel, lyttel, from Proto-West Germanic *lūtil (“little”), from *lūtan (“to bow down, lout”), from Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (“to bow down, lout”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to bend, crouch, duck”), equivalent to lout + -le.

    Cognates

    Cognate with Yola lethel, litha, lithel, lythea (“little”), North Frisian letj (“little, small”), Saterland Frisian litje (“little, small”), West Frisian lyts (“little, small”), Dutch luttel (“few, little, mere”), German lütt, lützel (“little, small”), Low German lütt, lüttje (“little, small”), Danish liden, lille (“little, small”), Elfdalian litn (“small”), Faroese lítil (“little, small”), Icelandic lítill (“little, small”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish liten (“little, small”), Crimean Gothic lista (“insufficient, very little”), Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (leitils, “little, small”); also Albanian lus, lut (“to beg, plead, request”), Lithuanian liūdnas (“sad, sorrowful”), Bulgarian and Macedonian луд (lud, “crazy, insane, mad”), Serbo-Croatian лу̑д, lȗd (“crazy”). Related also to Old English lūtan (“to bow, bend low”); and perhaps to Old English lytiġ (“deceitful”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍄𐍃 (liuts, “deceitful”). More at lout.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishlitel
      • inheritedOld Englishlȳtel “little”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*lūtil “little”
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*lūtaną “to bow down, lout”
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*lewd- “to cower, hunch over”
    • surface analysisEnglishlout “A troublemaker, often violent; a rude violent person; a yob.”
    • suffixEnglish-le “A frequentative suffix of verbs, indicating repetition or continuousness”
      • inheritedMiddle English-len
        • inheritedOld English-lian
      • inheritedMiddle English-el
        • inheritedOld English-el
        • derivedOld French-el

    Related: Yola lethel, North Frisian letj, Saterland Frisian litje, West Frisian lyts, Dutch luttel, German lütt, Low German lütt, Danish liden, Elfdalian litn, Faroese lítil, Icelandic lítill, nb,nn,sv liten, Crimean Gothic lista, Gothic 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃, Albanian lus, Lithuanian liūdnas, bg,mk луд, Serbo-Croatian лу̑д, Old English lūtan, Old English lytiġ, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍄𐍃

    Words built on it: little-go, little name

    Meanings

    adj
    1. Small, not large, limited, particularly
    2. Small, limited in size.
    3. Short, limited in extent.
    4. Brief, limited in duration.
    5. Young, limited in growth.
    6. Younger, regardless of size or height.
    adv
    1. Not much.
    2. Not at all.
    det
    1. Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).
    pron
    1. Not much; not a large amount.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: little