Etymograph

English

little

Little comes from Old English lȳtel ‘small, little’, from Proto-West Germanic *lūtil ‘bent, stooping; little’, from *lūtan ‘to bow down’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- ‘to bend, crouch’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewd-1‘to bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lūtaną1‘to bow down’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lūtan1‘to bow down’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lūtil1reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150lȳtel1‘small’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500litel1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1850little1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English little
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1850, [Alfred, Canto XXXVII: “Urania speaks with darken’d brow: ⁠‘Thou pratest here where…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*lewd-Wiktionary, English little‘to bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lūtanąWiktionary, English little‘to bow down’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lūtanWiktionary, English little‘to bow down’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*lūtilWiktionary, English littlereconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150lȳtelWiktionary, English little‘small’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500litelWiktionary, English little
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1850littleWiktionary, English little. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1850, [Alfred, Canto XXXVII: “Urania speaks with darken’d brow: ⁠‘Thou pratest here where…”

Formed from lout + -le

Middle English louten ‘to bow, bend low, stoop over’

English lout

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *lewd- ‘to bend, crouch, duck’

lit

through Proto-West Germanic *lūtan ‘to bow down, lout’

lout

Today it means

adj Small, not large, limited, particularly

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “little”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *lewd- / little

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