smallness

English

Etymology

From small +‎ -ness

Noun

smallness (countable and uncountable, plural smallnesses)

1. (uncountable) The state or quality of being small.

   His smallness didn't bother him, except when he needed something off the top shelf.

   • 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 136:

     The exiguity and ſmallneſſe of ſome ſeeds extending to large productions is one of the magnalities of nature, ſomewhat illuſtrating the work of the Creation, and vaſt production from nothing.

   • 1963 January, “The Irish scene”, in Modern Railways, page 16:

     Mr. Howden forcibly expressed his view that the U.T.A. [Ulster Transport Authority] rail system "had reached the limit of its smallness".

2. (countable) The result or product of being small.

Translations

state of being small

• Arabic: صِغَر (ar) m (ṣiḡar)
• Esperanto: eteco
• French: petitesse (fr) f
• German: Kleinheit f
• Greek:

  Ancient: μικρότης f (mikrótēs)

• Ido: mikreso (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: laghad m
• Latin: parvitās f
• Polish: małość (pl) f
• Romanian: micime (ro) f
• Russian: ма́лость (ru) f (málostʹ), ме́лкость (ru) f (mélkostʹ)
• Spanish: pequeñez (es) f, menudencia f
• Turkish: küçüklük (tr)
• Zulu: ubuncane class 14

References

• “smallness”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.