few
/fjuː/ determiner, pronoun, proper noun
Forms fewer less fewest least The Few
- determiner (preceded by another determiner) An indefinite, but usually small, number of. “There are a few cars (=some, but a relatively small number) in the street.”
- determiner (used alone) Not many; a small (in comparison with another number stated or implied) but somewhat indefinite number of. “Very few did she have not to go there, did she?”
- determiner (meteorology, of clouds) Obscuring one to two oktas (eighths) of the sky. “Tonight: A few clouds. Increasing cloudiness overnight.”
- determiner (meteorology, of rainfall with regard to a location) (US?) Having a 10 percent chance of measurable precipitation (0.01 inch); used interchangeably with isolated.
- pronoun Few people, few things. “Many are called, but few are chosen.”
- proper noun (UK) The pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English fewe, from Old English fēaw (“few”), from Proto-West Germanic *fau, from Proto-Germanic *fawaz (“few”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, small”).
Cognate with Old Saxon fā (“few”), Old High German fao, fō (“few, little”), Old Norse fár (“few”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍃 (faus, “few”). Also related with Latin paucus (“little, few”) and pauper (“poor”), from which latter English poor and pauper; see these.
From a speech by Winston Churchill that included the phrase "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Not many; small, limited, or confined in number; --indicating a small portion of units or individuals constituing a whole; often, by ellipsis of a noun, a few people. "Are not my days few" Job x. 20.
Etymology [OE. fewe, feawe, AS. feá, pl. feáwe; akin to OS. fah, OHG. f*, Icel. far, Sw. få, pl., Dan. faa, pl., Goth. faus, L. paucus, cf. Gr. Paucity.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “few”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details