# petit
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈpɛti/, /pəˈtiː/
* (US) IPA: /ˈpɛtət/, /pəˈti/, /pəˈtit/
* Rhymes: (UK) -ɛti, (UK) -iː, (US) -iːt

### Etymology 1

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

#### Adjective

petit (comparative more petit, superlative most petit)
* (now uncommon, of size) Petite: small, little.
** 1684 or 1685 February 22, Robert South, A Sermon preached at Westminster-Abbey:
    And by what small, petit Hints does the Mind catch hold of, and recover a vanishing Notion?
* Petty, in its various senses:
** (obsolete) Few in number.
** (now uncommon, of objects) Unimportant; cheap; easily replaced.
** (law, of scale) Small, minor.
** (now rare) Secondary; lower in rank.

##### Derived terms

* petit bag
* petit bourgeois
* petit bribing, petit-bribing
* petit canon
* petit cape
* petit captain
* petit chapman
* petit constable
* petit custom
* petit final
* petit god
* petit juror
* petit jury
* petit larceny
* petit maître
* petit morel
* petit officer
* petit pâté
* petit sergeant
* petit sergeanty, petit serjeanty
* petit session
* petit souper
* petit treason

##### Related terms

* petite, petty
* petit gâteau

##### See also

* puisne, puny

#### Noun

petit (plural petits)
* (obsolete, usually in the plural) A little schoolboy.
* (obsolete, rare) A kind of pigeon.

### Etymology 2

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

#### Noun

petit (uncountable)
* (printing, dated, French and German contexts) Synonym of brevier.

### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “petit”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
* ↑ “petite”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

### Anagrams

* Petti

## Catalan
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [pəˈtit]
* IPA: (Valencia) [peˈtit]
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

petit (feminine petita, masculine plural petits, feminine plural petites)
* small, little
    Antonym: gros

#### Derived terms

* a les petites
* empetitir
* petitesa
* petitó

### Further reading

* “petit” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “petit”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “petit” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “petit” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Finnish
### Verb

petit
* second-person singular past indicative of pettää

### Anagrams

* petti

## Franco-Provençal
### Etymology

Compare French petit.

### Adjective

petit (feminine petita, masculine plural petits, feminine plural petites) (ORB, broad)
* little
    Synonyms: pègno, petiôt
    Antonym: grant

#### Derived terms

* petiôt

### References

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

### Further information

* ALF: Atlas Linguistique de la France [Linguistic Atlas of France] – map 623: “mon petit garçon” – on lig-tdcge.imag.fr
* Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “*pettīttus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 8: Patavia–Pix, page 342

## French
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pə.ti/, /p.ti/, (in liaison) /pə.ti.t‿/, /p.ti.t‿/
* Audio:(file)
* (Quebec) IPA: [p(ə)tsi]
* (Louisiana) IPA: /pti/, /piti/, /ti/

### Adjective

petit (feminine petite, masculine plural petits, feminine plural petites, comparative moindre, superlative le moindre)
* small
    Antonym: grand
    un petit verre de vin ― a small glass of wine
* little
    un petit garçon ― a little boy
* petty
    Certaines personnes sont vraiment petites à propos des plus petites choses.Some people are really petty about the smallest things.

#### Usage notes

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

### Noun

petit m (plural petits, feminine petite)
* small one (anything that is small)
* little one (anything that is little)
* little one; child (of humans or other animals)
* the young (of a species)
    Le petit du lapin s’appelle le "lapereau".A young rabbit is called a "kit".

#### Usage notes

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

#### Derived terms

* à petit feu
* aller son petit bonhomme de chemin
* au petit bonheur
* aux petits oignons
* avoir un petit creux
* centre de la petite enfance
* chercher la petite bête
* comme des petits pains
* être aux petits soins
* être sur un petit nuage
* femme de petite vertu
* il n’y a pas de petits profits
* jouer petit bras
* le monde est petit
* le petit oiseau va sortir
* les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières
* mon petit
* mon petit doigt m’a dit
* nom d’un petit bonhomme
* parc aux petits
* petit à petit
* petit ami
* Petit Berlin
* petit blanc
* petit bois
* petit boulot
* petit bras
* petit coin
* Petit Colorado
* petit comité
* petit copain
* petit déjeuner
* petit doigt
* petit écran
* petit épeautre
* petit filet
* petit four
* petit joueur
* petit jour
* petit juif
* petit largue
* petit mal
* petit matin
* petit monde
* petit nègre
* petit pain
* petit pain au chocolat
* petit panda
* petit père
* petit peuple
* petit pois
* petit poisson deviendra grand
* petit pont
* petit récit
* petit-
* petit-bourgeois
* petite amie
* petite annonce
* petite bière
* petite bite
* petite bourgeoisie
* petite capitale
* petite copine
* petite couronne
* petite cuiller
* petite culotte
* petite finale
* petite frappe
* petite main
* petite mort
* petite nature
* petite nyctale
* Petite Ourse
* petite perception
* petite pluie abat grand vent
* Petite Russie
* petite sœur
* petite souris
* petite vérole
* petites gens
* petites heures
* petites lèvres
* petits yeux
* plus petit commun multiple
* pour la petite histoire
* regarder par le petit bout de la lorgnette
* se faire petit
* se faire tout petit
* s’amuser comme un petit fou
* vilain petit canard

#### Descendants

* Louisiana Creole: piti
* Michif: pchi
* → Portuguese: petiz
** → Spanish: petiso

### Further reading

* “petit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈpe.tit/, [ˈpɛt̪ɪt̪]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈpe.tit/, [ˈpɛːt̪it̪]

### Verb

petit
* third-person singular present active indicative of petō

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* petyt, petyte, (error) peter

### Etymology

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

petit
* 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
### Etymology

From Old French petit.

### Adjective

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

#### Descendants

* French: petit

### Noun

petit m (plural petits, feminine singular petite, feminine plural petites)
* something that is small

## Occitan
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

petit m (feminine singular petita, masculine plural petits, feminine plural petitas)
* small
    Synonym: pichon
    Antonym: grand

#### Derived terms

* petitesa

### Further reading

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

## Old French
### Alternative forms

* peti, pitet

### Etymology

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

### Adjective

petit m (oblique and nominative feminine singular petite)
* small, little
* worthless; valueless
* poor; of poor quality

#### Descendants

* Middle French: petit
** French: petit
* → English: petit, petty
* → Italian: petitto

### References

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