few

adjhardly any
pronscarcely any

Antonyms for few

Word Origin & History

Old English feawe (plural; contracted to fea) "few, seldom, even a little," from Proto-Germanic *faw-, from PIE root *pau- (1) "few, little" (cf. Latin paucus "few, little," paullus "little," parvus "little, small," pauper "poor;" Greek pauros "few, little," pais (genitive paidos) "child;" Latin puer "child, boy," pullus "young animal;" Oscan puklu "child;" Sanskrit potah "a young animal," putrah "son;" Old English fola "young horse;" Old Norse fylja "young female horse;" Old Church Slavonic puta "bird;" Lithuanian putytis "young animal, young bird"). Always plural in Old English.

Phrase few and far between attested from 1660s. Unusual ironic use in quite a few "many" (1883), earlier a good few (1828). The noun is late 12c., fewe, from the adjective.

Example Sentences forfew

They were both silent for a few moments; and Eudora's countenance was troubled.

Here we see but a few of the last links, and those imperfectly.

So small was it that to have gone a few feet to either side would have been to miss it.

I shall be staying with Aunt Cornelia a few days after to-morrow.

Or, if I'd only got tied up in some way for a few weeks—something I could tide over.

You will probably see me out again in a few days, if you take the trouble to look.

I can get along for a few hours, and then I'll have a doctor look at it.

I could keep only the effect of its expression and the few tones of your voice I heard.

"Too bad she ain't got a few more millions," said Uncle Peter, ruminantly.

After all, there are certain things that you can't tell in too few words.

few

Synonyms for few

Antonyms for few

infrequent

occasional

rare

rarer

rarest

few

Synonyms for few

Antonyms for few

More words related to few

handful

infrequent

occasional

rare

rarer

rarest