petit

See also: Petit, pétit, and pētīt

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɛti/, /pəˈtiː/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈpɛdi/, /pəˈti/, /pəˈtit/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French petit.

Adjective

petit (comparative more petit, superlative most petit)

  1. (now uncommon, of size) Petite: small, little.
  2. Petty, in its various senses:
    1. (obsolete) Few in number.
    2. (now uncommon, of objects) Unimportant; cheap; easily replaced.
    3. (law, of scale) Small, minor.
    4. (now rare) Secondary; lower in rank.
Derived terms
See also

Noun

petit (plural petits)

  1. (obsolete, usually in the plural) A little schoolboy.
  2. (obsolete, rare) A kind of pigeon.

Etymology 2

From French petit (“brevier”) directly or via German Petit (“brevier”).

Noun

petit (uncountable)

  1. (printing, dated, French and German contexts) Synonym of brevier.

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan [Term?], from Vulgar Latin *pittitus, an expressive creation (with variant forms pitinnus, pitulus, piccinus, pitikkus, etc.). Compare French petit.

Pronunciation

Adjective

petit (feminine petita, masculine plural petits, feminine plural petites)

  1. small, little
    Antonym: gran

Derived terms

  • a les petites

Further reading

Finnish

Verb

petit

  1. Second-person singular indicative past form of pettää.

Anagrams

French

Etymology

From Old French petit, from Vulgar Latin pittitus (775; compare Latin pitinnus, pitulus), possibly from Celtic or Frankish.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pə.ti/, /p.ti/
  • audio(file)
  • (Quebec) IPA(key): [p(ə)tsi]
  • (Louisiana) IPA(key): /pti/, /piti/, /ti/

Adjective

petit (feminine singular petite, masculine plural petits, feminine plural petites)

  1. small
    un petit verre de vin ― a small glass of wine
  2. little
    un petit garçon ― a little boy
  3. petty
    Certaines personnes sont vraiment petites à propos des plus petites choses.
    Some people are really small about the smallest things.

Usage notes

Only three French adjectives have an irregular comparative: petit (moindre, but in certain senses only), mauvais (pire) and bon (meilleur).

Noun

petit m (plural petits, feminine petite)

  1. small one (anything that is small)
  2. little one (anything that is little)
  3. little one; child (of humans or other animals)
  4. the young (of a species)
    Le petit du lapin s'appelle le "lapereau".

Usage notes

Often contracted, in popular or familiar speech, to p'tit (/pti/).

Derived terms

Descendants

Further reading

Latin

Verb

petit

  1. third-person singular present active indicative of petō

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French petit.

Adjective

petit m (feminine singular petite, masculine plural petitz, feminine plural petites)

  1. small

Descendants

Noun

petit m (plural petits, feminine singular petite, feminine plural petites)

  1. something that is small

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin *pitittus (compare Latin pitinnus, pitulus).

Adjective

petit m (oblique and nominative feminine singular petite)

  1. small, little
  2. worthless; valueless
  3. poor; of poor quality

Declension

Descendants

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