# little

Pronunciation: say "LIT-l" /ˈlɪ.tl̩/

## Adjective

1. Small in size, number, or scale; not big or large.
   - Simple: Small and not big. Used of things, groups, or businesses.
   - _The museum sits on a little island just off the coast._
   - _A little bird landed on the windowsill and pecked at the crumbs._
4. Young, or younger than another person, especially a brother, sister, or other relative.
   - Simple: Young, or younger than someone else, especially a brother or sister.
   - _She has been afraid of thunder since she was little._
   - _The little ones napped upstairs while the adults talked in the kitchen._
5. Placed before a noun, often alongside another adjective, to convey warmth, fondness, or sympathy instead of saying anything about size.
   - Simple: Used before a word to show you love, like, or feel sorry for someone or something, not to describe size.
   - _"You poor little thing, what a long day you've had," she told her exhausted husband._
   - _We found the poor little thing shivering under the porch after the storm, too scared to come out._
8. Insignificant or trivial; of minor importance.
   - Simple: Not important, not worth worrying about.
   - _He apologized for the little misunderstanding at the meeting._
   - _It was just a little mistake, nothing that would affect the final results._
9. Lasting only a short time; brief.
   - Simple: Short in time, not lasting long.
   - _After a little pause, she continued her speech._
   - _After the long drive, we stopped at a diner and rested for a little while before pushing on to the coast._
10. Used to belittle a person, expressing contempt or dismissal.
   - Simple: Used before a word for a person to insult them and make them seem unimportant.
   - _He dismissed the reporter as a little hack chasing easy headlines._
   - _I refuse to be lectured by some little functionary from head office._
13. Placed before a place name, usually that of a country or capital city, to name a district where people from there live or keep shops.
   - Simple: Used before a place name for a neighborhood where people from that place live.
   - _Little Tokyo grew up around the markets where Japanese immigrants found work._
   - _Souvenir shops now outnumber butchers in Manhattan's Little Italy._
14. Narrow in views or sympathies; petty, ungenerous, or small-minded.
   - Simple: Having a narrow and unkind way of thinking about other people.
   - _A little mind sees a rival in every colleague's success._
   - _Generous people forgive and forget, but little minds keep a careful record of every slight._
15. Used with a place name to imply that its inhabitants are insular and hostile to those they see as foreign.
   - Simple: Used with a place name to mock the people there for disliking outsiders and new ideas.
   - _Opponents of the treaty were accused of wanting a Little England, closed off from the world._
   - _Columnists warned that the new tariffs would build a Little America walled off from its allies._

## Determiner

2. Only a small amount of something; not much.
   - Simple: Not much, only a small amount of something.
   - _The committee showed little interest in the new proposal._
   - _There was little rain that summer, and the crops suffered._

## Adverb

3. Not much; to a small degree or extent.
   - Simple: Not much, or only a very small amount.
   - _The town has changed little since the 1950s._
   - _The medicine helped little, and the fever returned by morning._
11. Not at all.
   - Simple: Not at all, not one bit.
   - _Little did the committee realize that the report had already leaked._
   - _He little dreamed that the sketch would one day sell for millions._

## Pronoun

6. Only a small quantity or degree of something.
   - Simple: Not much, only a small amount.
   - _Little is known about the painter's early years._
   - _Much was promised during the campaign, but little was delivered._

## Noun

7. A small amount or quantity of something.
   - Simple: A small amount of something.
   - _She added a little of the sauce and tasted the soup again._
   - _The little they had saved went toward the roof repairs._
12. A child, especially an infant. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A small child, especially a baby.
   - _They brought their little to the family reunion for the first time._
   - _The daycare keeps extra mittens on hand for littles who lose theirs._
16. In age-regression or ageplay, a person who takes on a childlike state or the younger role.
   - Simple: In age-play or age-regression, a person who acts as or feels like a young child.
   - _As a little, he keeps a weighted stuffed dinosaur and a box of crayons by his bed._
   - _Forums for littles share tips on regression as a way of coping with stress._

## Noun

17. Ellipsis of little go: formerly, the first examination for a BA degree at Cambridge or Oxford. *(dated, UK)* — Ellipsis of little go (“type of examination”).
   - Simple: Short for little go. In the past, the first exam students took for a degree at Cambridge or Oxford.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A newly initiated member of a sorority or fraternity, mentored by an older member known as a big.

## Origin

From Middle English litel, from Old English lyttel, going back to Proto-Germanic *lūtilaz and Proto-West Germanic *lūtil ("tending to stoop, little"), and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *lewd- ("to bend, crouch, duck"); it is equivalent to lout + -le. It has cognates such as Dutch luttel and Low German lütt, and is related to Old English lūtan ("to bow, bend low").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/little (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).