little

little · adjective, adverb, determiner, pronoun, noun¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*lewd-“to bend, crouch, duck”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*lūtaną“to bow down, lout”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*lūtil“little”
4. Old English · inherited fromlȳtel
5. Middle English · inherited fromlitel
6. English todaylittle

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.

Little · proper noun²

English surname, from the adjective little (“small, (ironic) big, not much, younger”). Compare Short, Shorty. This has also been translated and adapted from similar-meaning names in other languages, such as: * Irish Ó Beagáin (“descendant of Beagán”), from a diminutive of beag (“small”), see also Began. * French Petit and Polish Mały * Native American names such as Navajo hastiin yázhí (“little man”), see Yazzie.

Words from the same roots