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petit

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petit¹

  • /ˈpɛti/ UK
  • /pəˈtiː/ UK
  • /ˈpɛtət/ US
  • /pəˈti/ US
  • /pəˈtit/ US

Rhymes with (UK) -ɛti, (UK) -iː, (US) -iːt

Where it comes from

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 more petit · most petit

  1. uncommon, of size Petite: small, little. And by what small, petit Hints does the Mind catch hold of, and recover a vanishing Notion?
  2. obsolete Few in number.
  3. uncommon, of objects Unimportant; cheap; easily replaced.
  4. of scale Small, minor.
  5. archaic Secondary; lower in rank.

noun petits

  1. obsolete, plural normally A little schoolboy.
  2. obsolete, rare A kind of pigeon.

petit²

  • /ˈpɛti/ UK
  • /pəˈtiː/ UK
  • /ˈpɛtət/ US
  • /pəˈti/ US
  • /pəˈtit/ US

Rhymes with (UK) -ɛti, (UK) -iː, (US) -iːt

Where it comes from

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

noun

  1. dated, uncountable Synonym of brevier.

    Similar: brevier

Petit³

Where it comes from

From French Petit.

proper noun

  1. A surname.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: little, tiny, small-time, teeny, teensy, small-scale, small, short, skinny, puny, shorty, petty, scrawny, lesser, slight, minor

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"petit." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/petit. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

petit. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/petit

Chicago

"petit." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/petit.

BibTeX
@misc{petit_2026,
  title = {petit},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/petit},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}