few

F4E1W4
/fjuː/Wales/fɪu̯/

determiner

An indefinite, but usually small, number of.

“I think he's had a few drinks.”

Similar
littlea fewa couple ofhardly a
Opposite
many
OriginMiddle English fewe ← Old English fēaw ← Proto-West Germanic *fau →
Very commonScrabble 9
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Meanings

few1

determinerfew (comparative fewer or less, superlative fewest or least)

comparative fewer · comparative less · superlative fewest · superlative least

  1. preceded by another determinerAn indefinite, but usually small, number of.

    I think he's had a few drinks.

    4 more examples

    There are a few cars (=some, but a relatively small number) in the street.

    Quite a few people (=a significant number) were pleasantly surprised.

    The few cheapest hotels I could find are the farthest too.

    No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.

    2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2020
  2. Not many; a small (in comparison with another number stated or implied) but somewhat indefinite number of.

    Very few did she have not to go there, did she?

    4 more examples

    I was expecting a big crowd at the party, but very few people (=almost none) turned up.

    Your men are valiant but their number few, And cannot terrifie his mightie hoſt, […]

    c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii

    Already we're seeing fewer cache misses by avoiding creating cache entries for the idle task and expect to see even fewer with changes to the TLB reload code to uncache the page tables.

    1999, Proceedings of the Third Symposium on Operating Systems

    However, the above passage could have been written more efficiently — if Strunkian concision, using the fewest words possible, is understood as the measure of verbal efficiency.

    2020, Victoria Rosner, Machines for Living: Modernism and Domestic Life, page 62
  3. climatologyObscuring one to two oktas (eighths) of the sky.

    Tonight: A few clouds. Increasing cloudiness overnight.

    1 more example

    NOAA definition of the term few clouds: An official sky cover classification for aviation weather observations, descriptive of a sky cover of 1/8 to 2/8. This is applied only when obscuring phenomena aloft are present--that is, not when obscuring phenomena are surface-based, such as fog.

  4. climatology(US?) Having a 10 percent chance of measurable precipitation (0.01 inch); used interchangeably with isolated.
pronoun
  1. Few people, few things.

    Many are called, but few are chosen.

Few2

proper nounThe Few
  1. UKThe pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain.

Few3

proper noun
  1. A surname.

Synonyms & antonyms

Similar
little
Opposite
many
Opposite
many

adjectivea quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by ‘a’; a small but indefinite number

Similar
a fewa couple ofhardly a
Opposite
many
Also see
a fewcouplepitifulscant

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

few · determiner, pronoun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*peh₂w-“few, small”
  2. Proto-Germanic*fawaz“few”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*fau
  4. Old Englishfēaw“few”
  5. Middle Englishfewe
  6. Englishfew

From Middle English fewe, from Old English fēaw (“few”), from Proto-West Germanic *fau, from Proto-Germanic *fawaz (“few”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, small”). Cognate with Old Saxon fā (“few”), Old High German fao, fō (“few, little”), Old Norse fár (“few”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍃 (faus, “few”). Also related with Latin paucus (“little, few”) and pauper (“poor”), from which latter English poor and pauper; see these.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

Few · proper noun

From a speech by Winston Churchill that included the phrase "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek ὀλίγος, ὀλίγος
  • ὀλίγος (olígos)indefinite, usually small number
  • ὀλίγος (olígos)small number
Arabic قَلِيل, قَلِيل
  • قَلِيل (qalīl)indefinite, usually small number
  • قَلِيل (qalīl)small number
  • قَلِيل (qalīl)few people, few things
Bengali কম
  • কম (kom)indefinite, usually small number
Bulgarian ма́лко, ма́лко
  • ма́лко (málko)indefinite, usually small number
  • ма́лко (málko)small number
Catalan poc, poca
  • pocindefinite, usually small number
  • pocaindefinite, usually small number
  • pocssmall number
  • poquessmall number
Chinese Mandarin 少, 一些
  • 少 (shǎo)indefinite, usually small number
  • 一些 (yīxiē)indefinite, usually small number
  • 少 (shǎo)small number
  • 少數 /少数 (shǎoshù)small number
Czech málo, trochu
  • máloindefinite, usually small number
  • trochuindefinite, usually small number
  • jen párindefinite, usually small number
  • málosmall number
  • několiksmall number
  • nemnohosmall number
  • nemnohofew people, few things
Danish få
  • fåindefinite, usually small number
Dutch weinig, enkele
  • weinigindefinite, usually small number
  • enkeleindefinite, usually small number
  • een paarindefinite, usually small number
  • weinigsmall number
Esperanto malmulta, kelkaj
  • malmultaindefinite, usually small number
  • kelkajindefinite, usually small number
Estonian vähe, vähesed
  • väheindefinite, usually small number
  • vähesedindefinite, usually small number
  • vähesmall number
Finnish harva, muutama
  • harvaindefinite, usually small number
  • muutamaindefinite, usually small number
  • jokunenindefinite, usually small number
  • vähänsmall number
  • muutamasmall number
  • selkeä (see: pilvisyys)meteorology: obscuring 1–2 eighths of the sky
  • harvafew people, few things
French peu, peu
  • peuindefinite, usually small number
  • peusmall number
  • peumeteorology: obscuring 1–2 eighths of the sky
  • quelquesmeteorology: obscuring 1–2 eighths of the sky
  • peufew people, few things
German wenig
  • wenigindefinite, usually small number
Greek λίγοι, μερικοί
  • λίγοιindefinite, usually small number
  • μερικοί (merikoí)indefinite, usually small number
Hawaiian kakaikahi
  • kakaikahiindefinite, usually small number
Hebrew אֲחָדִים
  • אֲחָדִים (akhadím)indefinite, usually small number
Hindi कुछ, अल्प
  • कुछ (kuch)indefinite, usually small number
  • अल्प (alp)indefinite, usually small number
  • न्यून (nyūn)indefinite, usually small number
  • कम (kam)small number
Hungarian kevés, kevés
  • kevésindefinite, usually small number
  • kevéssmall number
Icelandic fáir, fár
  • fáirindefinite, usually small number
  • fársmall number
Indonesian sedikit, segelintir
  • sedikitindefinite, usually small number
  • segelintirsmall number
  • sedikitfew people, few things
Irish beag, beagán
  • beagindefinite, usually small number
  • beagánindefinite, usually small number
  • beagsmall number
  • beagánsmall number
  • tearcsmall number
Italian poco, pochi
  • pocoindefinite, usually small number
  • pochismall number
Japanese 少し, わずか
  • 少し (sukoshi)indefinite, usually small number
  • わずか (wazuka)small number
  • 少数 (shōsū)small number
Korean 적다, 조금
  • 적다 (jeokda)indefinite, usually small number
  • 조금 (jogeum)indefinite, usually small number
Latin paucus, aliquot
  • paucusindefinite, usually small number
  • aliquotsmall number
Latvian nedaudz, daži
  • nedaudzindefinite, usually small number
  • dažiindefinite, usually small number
Lithuanian nedaug
  • nedaugindefinite, usually small number
Malay dikit, sedikit
  • dikitindefinite, usually small number
  • sedikitindefinite, usually small number
Māori riki, okotahi
  • rikiindefinite, usually small number
  • okotahiindefinite, usually small number
  • ruaruaindefinite, usually small number
  • torutoruindefinite, usually small number
  • itiitiindefinite, usually small number
  • kōtahitahiindefinite, usually small number
  • ngōuruuruindefinite, usually small number
  • ououindefinite, usually small number
  • tokoitiindefinite, usually small number
  • tokoitiitiindefinite, usually small number
  • rikismall number
  • okotahismall number
  • tokoitiitifew people, few things
  • tokoitifew people, few things
Norwegian få, noen
  • fåindefinite, usually small number
  • noenindefinite, usually small number
  • fåsmall number
Persian کم, اندک
  • کم (kam)indefinite, usually small number
  • اندک (andak)indefinite, usually small number
  • کم (kam)small number
  • وید (veyd)small number
  • اندک (andak)small number
  • اندک (andak)few people, few things
Polish mało, niewiele
  • małoindefinite, usually small number
  • niewieleindefinite, usually small number
  • kilkasmall number
  • paręsmall number
Portuguese poucos, poucas
  • poucosindefinite, usually small number
  • poucasindefinite, usually small number
  • poucossmall number
  • poucassmall number
Romanian câțiva, ceva
  • câțivaindefinite, usually small number
  • cevaindefinite, usually small number
  • puținismall number
Russian немно́гий, ма́ло
  • немно́гий (nemnógij)indefinite, usually small number
  • ма́ло (málo)indefinite, usually small number
  • не́сколько (néskolʹko)indefinite, usually small number
  • ма́ло (málo)small number
Scottish Gaelic beagan, beag
  • beaganindefinite, usually small number
  • beagindefinite, usually small number
  • corraindefinite, usually small number
  • deannanindefinite, usually small number
Slovak málo, zopár
  • máloindefinite, usually small number
  • zopárindefinite, usually small number
  • niekoľkoindefinite, usually small number
  • nemnohísmall number
Spanish poco, pocos
  • pocoindefinite, usually small number
  • pocossmall number
  • pocassmall number
  • [unos] pocos / cuantosfew people, few things
Swedish få, fåtal
  • fåindefinite, usually small number
  • fåtalsmall number
  • fåfew people, few things
Thai น้อย
  • น้อย (nɔ́ɔi)indefinite, usually small number
Turkish az, az
  • azindefinite, usually small number
  • azsmall number
Ukrainian ма́ло, кі́лька
  • ма́ло (málo)indefinite, usually small number
  • кі́лька (kílʹka)indefinite, usually small number
  • небага́то (nebaháto)indefinite, usually small number
Urdu کچھ, کم
  • کچھ (kuch)indefinite, usually small number
  • کم (kam)indefinite, usually small number
  • کم (kam)small number
Vietnamese ít, ít
  • ítindefinite, usually small number
  • ítsmall number
Welsh ychydig
  • ychydigindefinite, usually small number
Yiddish ווייניק, עטלעכע
  • ווייניק (veynik)indefinite, usually small number
  • עטלעכע (etlekhe)indefinite, usually small number
  • ווייניק (veynik)small number
  • אַ פּאָר (a por)small number

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with few

younewdowhoviewtwothroughreviewutooqbluefaqduetruecontinuegnuquesushoeCPUvenuePeruzoo
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

phew (phonemically)phew (phonemically)

Anagrams

Fwe
Cite this entry
APA

few. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/few

MLA

“few.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/few. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “few,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/few.

Source: few on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.