petit

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See also: Petit, pétit, pētīt, and petit-

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English petit, from Old French petit, from Latin *pitittus, diminutive of Latin *pit-, possibly from Proto-Celtic *pett- (“part, bit, piece”). Compare also Latin pitinnus (“small”), pitulus. Doublet of petty.

Adjective

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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
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See also
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Noun

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petit (plural petits)

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

Etymology 2

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

Noun

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petit (uncountable)

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

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Vulgar Latin pittitus, an expressive creation (with variant forms pitinnus, pitulus, piccinus, pitikkus, etc.). Compare Occitan and French petit.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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

  1. small, little
    Antonym: gros

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Finnish

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Verb

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petit

  1. second-person singular past indicative of pettää

Anagrams

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Franco-Provençal

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Etymology

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Compare French petit.

Adjective

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

  1. little
    Synonyms: pègno, petiôt
    Antonym: grant

Derived terms

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References

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  • petit in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
  • petit in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

Further information

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old French petit, from Vulgar Latin pittitus (775; compare Latin pitinnus, pitulus). Compare Spanish pequeño.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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petit (feminine petite, masculine plural petits, feminine plural petites, comparative moindre, superlative le moindre)

  1. small
    Antonym: grand
    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 petty about the smallest things.

Usage notes

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

Noun

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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".
    A young rabbit is called a "kit".

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Louisiana Creole: piti
  • Michif: pchi
  • → Portuguese: petiz

Further reading

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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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petit

  1. third-person singular present active indicative of petō

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle French petit, from Old French petit. See Modern English petit, above. Attested from at least the 13th century, with use in names earlier.

Adjective

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petit

  1. small
    • 1454, Church of England, Province of Canterbury, Fifty earliest English wills in the Court of Probate, London, published 1964, “Thomas Bathe, of Bristol, 1420”:
      Item I petit brase morter, I pesteƚƚ de ferro.
      Item: one small brass mortar, with one pestle of iron.

Middle French

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Etymology

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From Old French petit.

Adjective

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

  1. small

Descendants

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Noun

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

  1. something that is small

Occitan

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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petit m (feminine singular petita, masculine plural petits, feminine plural petitas)

  1. small
    Synonym: pichon
    Antonym: grand

Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • Joan de Cantalausa (2006) Diccionari general occitan a partir dels parlars lengadocians‎[2], 2 edition, →ISBN, page 743.

Old French

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Latin *pitittus (compare Latin pitinnus, pitulus), which according to Watkins is of imitative origin.[1]

Adjective

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petit m (oblique and nominative feminine singular petite)

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

Declension

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Declension of petit
Number Case Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular Subject petiz petite petit
Oblique petit petite petit
Plural Subject petit petites petit
Oblique petiz petites petit

Descendants

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References

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  1. ^ “petit”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
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