Little

How to spell little

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce little

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does little mean?

1. adjectiveSmall in size, amount, or degree.
2. adverbTo a small extent or degree; not much.

Little in a sentence

• adjective

  They bought a little cottage near the coast.

• adverb

  She slept very little before the early flight.

• adjective

  The recipe needs only a little butter.

• adverb

  He cares little for what the critics say.

Where does little come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a thoroughly native English word, descending from the Old English lytel, which meant 'small in size, amount, or importance'. It belongs to a wider Germanic family, with relatives such as the Dutch luttel and the Old High German luzzil, all carrying the sense of smallness or scantiness. The doubled t in the modern spelling reflects the short, clipped vowel that precedes it, a pattern English uses to keep that first syllable crisp. Over the centuries little settled into both a size sense (a little house) and a quantity sense (a little money), while its old comparative forms gave way to 'less' and 'least', which come from a separate but related root. Because the word is so old and so common, the only real spelling care it needs is remembering the double t and the unstressed -le ending rather than -el or -al.

How the word is built

• littl- (from Old English lytel: small)
• -e