wee

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• enPR: wē, IPA: /wiː/, SAMPA: /wi:/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː
• Homophones: we, whee (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English we (“little bit”), from Old English wǣge (“weight”), related to Old English wegan (“to move, weigh”) (15c).

Adjective

wee (comparative weer, superlative weest)

1. (Scotland, Northern Ireland, North England) Small, little.
   • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, p. 73:

     I had not seen a wee boy do it like that before. He was weer than me and his swimming was just like splashing about.

   You looked a little cold so I lit a wee fire.

Translations

small, little

Dutch: klein (nl), petieterig (nl), pietepeuterig (nl) Finnish: pikkuruinen (fi) French: petit (fr) Georgian: პაწაწა (ka), პაწაწინა (ka), პაწაწკინტელა (ka) German: winzig (de), klein (de) Hebrew: קטן (he) (katán) m.

Hungarian: apró (hu), csöpp (hu) Irish: beag (ga) Italian: piccolo (it) Portuguese: pequeno (pt) Spanish: pequeño (es) Turkish: küçük (tr)

References

• Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition (1997)

Etymology 2

Unknown

Noun

wee (uncountable)

1. (colloquial, uncountable) urine
2. (colloquial) An act of urination.

   to have a wee

Synonyms

• wee wee
• See also Wikisaurus:urine
• See also Wikisaurus:urination

Translations

urine

Dutch: pis (nl) m., urine (nl) f. Finnish: pissa (fi) French: pipi (fr) m. German: Pipi (de) n. Italian: pipì (it) f.

Japanese: おしっこ (ja) (oshikko) Kurdish: میز (ku) Norwegian: tiss (no) n. Turkish: çiş (tr), sidik (tr)

act of urination

Dutch: plas (nl) m. Finnish: pissaaminen (fi)

Kurdish: میز کردن (ku) Norwegian: tisse (no)

Verb

wee (third-person singular simple present wees, present participle weeing, simple past and past participle weed)

1. (colloquial) To urinate.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:urinate

Translations

to urinate

Dutch: plassen (nl), pipi doen (nl), wateren (nl), pissen (nl), urineren (nl) Finnish: pissata (fi), pissiä (fi) French: faire pipi (fr) German: pinkeln (de), pissen (de), Pipi machen (de) Italian: fare la pipì (it)

Kurdish: میز کردن (ku) Russian: писать (ru) (písat’) impf. (homograph with писать (pisát’) - to write), пописать (ru) (popísat’) pf. Spanish: hacer pis (es) Turkish: çiş yapma (tr), işeme (tr)

Anagrams

• eew
• ewe, Ewe

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Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wai. Compare Old English wā (English woe), Old High German wē (German weh), Old Norse vei.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eː
• (Netherlands) IPA: /ʋeː/
• (Belgium) IPA: /β̞eː/

Adjective

wee (not comparable)

1. nauseating

Declension

Declension of wee

		positive	comparative	superlative
				attributive	predicative/adverbial
predicative/adverbial		wee	—
neuter singular	indefinite	wee	—
	definite	weeë	—	—	—
common singular		weeë	—	—	—
plural		weeë	—	—	—
partitive		wees	—

Noun

wee f. (plural weeën, diminutive weetje)

1. contraction during labour or childbirth

   De weeën beginnen!

   The contractions are starting!

2. sorrow, sadness, pain, woe; archaic unless used as an interjection of despair or annoyance

   O wee, wat zal er van ons worden.

   Oh my, what’s going to happen with us.

Derived terms

• (sorrow): o wee, ach en wee, heimwee

Anagrams

• Ewe

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *wē, from Proto-Germanic *wai.

Interjection

wee

1. woe!

Adjective

wee

1. unpleasant, painful

Noun

wee f.

1. pain

Declension

This Middle Dutch entry needs a declension template

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Scots

Pronunciation

• enPR: wē, IPA: /wiː/, SAMPA: /wi:/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

wee (comparative mair wee, superlative maist wee)

1. small, little

Usage notes

Used in both the standard Scots and Ulster Scots dialect.