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Small

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small¹

  • /smɔl/
  • /smɑl/ cot caught merger
  • /smɔːl/ UK
  • [smoːɫ] UK
  • /smɔl/ Scotland
  • /smaːl/ Northumbria
  • /smoːl/ Australia, New Zealand

Rhymes with -ɔːl

Where it comes from

From Middle English smal, smale, small, smalle, smel, smæl, from Old English smæl (“narrow, slim; slender; fine; small; quiet”), from Proto-West Germanic *smal, from Proto-Germanic *smalaz (“small”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mal- (“small; little”).

Cognates

Cognate with Scots smaw (“small; minor”), Yola smaale, small (“small”), North Frisian smaal, smeel, smääl (“narrow”), Saterland Frisian smäl (“narrow”), West Frisian smel (“narrow”), Alemannic German schmaal (“narrow”), Bavarian schmoi (“narrow; slender”), Dutch smal (“narrow; small”), German schmal (“narrow; slender”), Low German small (“narrow; slender, small”), Luxembourgish schmuel (“narrow”), Vilamovian śmoł, šmoł (“narrow”), Yiddish שמאָל (shmol, “narrow”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish smal (“narrow; slim”), Gothic 𐍃𐌼𐌰𐌻𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍃 (smalists, “smallest”); also Latin malus (“bad, distressing, nasty; evil, mischievous, wicked; destructive, hurtful, noxious; abusive, hostile, unkind”), Belarusian малы́ (malý, “small”), Bulgarian and Macedonian мал (mal, “small; minor”), Czech and Slovak malý (“small”), Polish mały (“small; little; humble; short”), Russian ма́лый (mályj, “small; short”), Serbo-Croatian ма̑л, mȃl (“small”), Ukrainian мали́й (malýj, “small”).

adjective smaller · smallest

  1. Not large or big; insignificant; few in number. A small serving of ice cream.
  2. Humiliated or insignificant. The bullies had succeeded in making him feel small.
  3. Having a small penis, muscles, or other important body parts, regardless of overall body size. (of genitals)
  4. figuratively, not comparable Young, as a child. Remember when the children were small?
  5. not comparable Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters. "I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course."
  6. Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean. A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.
  7. Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short. a small space of time
  8. Synonym of little (“of an industry or institution(s) therein: operating on a small scale, unlike larger counterparts”). small science
  9. archaic Slender, gracefully slim.
  10. especially That is small (the manufactured size). I'll have a small coffee, thanks.

Similar: compact, fun size, fun-sized, ickle, insignificant, lit'l, little, low, modest, mini, petty, pint-sized

adverb smaller · smallest

  1. In a small fashion Don't write very small!
  2. In or into small pieces. That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.
  3. obsolete To a small extent. It small avails my mood.
  4. obsolete In a low tone; softly. That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.

noun smalls

  1. especially, noun from verb, uncountable One of several common sizes to which an item may be manufactured, smaller than a medium.
  2. countable, especially, noun from verb An item labelled or denoted as being that size. Two smalls and a large, please.
  3. countable, especially, noun from verb One who fits an item of that size.
  4. countable, noun from verb, rare Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back. I got a splitting pain in the small of my back

verb smalls · smalling · smalled

  1. noun from verb, obsolete, transitive To make little or less.
  2. intransitive, noun from verb To become small; to dwindle. And smalled till she was nought at all.

Small²

Where it comes from

Inherited from Old English smæl (“small”). Compare Smail. First attested in the 1200s.

proper noun Smalls · Smale · Smales · Smalles

  1. A surname. “People have biases towards species that are glamorous,” said Dr. Ernie Small, author of the study and taxonomist for Agriculture Canada.

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