petite

Etymology

It is borrowed from French petite, the feminine of petit (“small, little”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which is the source of petit and petty.^[7][8] The French adjective is recorded from about 1100 and is probably from the stem of Late Latin pitinnus (“small”), a word of uncertain origin.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a woman or girl, of small stature and build: 1766, in Colman and Garrick's The Clandestine Marriage.^[2] Etymonline, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it from 1784,^[5][4][6] and Random House to 1705–15.^[9] French phrases with petite, such as petite pièce, a minor work by an author, were used in English earlier, from 1712.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The Shorter Oxford records an older use, of small size or importance, from the mid 16th to the late 17th century.^[10] In the modern sense the word was formerly often disparaging, but it now usually means attractively small and dainty.^[2][11] The OED notes that the clothing sense, a small size in women's clothes, has no French parallel;^[2] it is recorded as a noun from 1926 and as an adjective from 1929.^[2][6][5] From 1886 the word was also used of things in general for "small, little",^[2] and since 1951 geneticists have called yeast mutants that form small colonies petite, after French petite colonie.^[2][10]

Timeline

• mid 16th century – of small size or importance (obsolete by the late 17th century).^[10]
• 1712 – in French phrases used in English, such as petite pièce.^[4][5]
• 1766 – of a woman, small in stature and build.^[2]
• 1784 – small, little, of a woman or girl (Etymonline, Barnhart, Merriam-Webster).^[5][4][6]
• before 1886 – small, little, in general.^[2]
• 1926 – noun, a small size in women's clothing.^[2][6]
• 1929 – adjective, of this size.^[2][5]
• 1951 – in genetics, of yeast strains forming small colonies.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a woman, small, slim and dainty: a petite dancer.^[11][6][2]
2. Of women's clothing, made in a size for short women.^[2][6]
3. (genetics) Of a mutant strain of yeast, forming small colonies.^[2][10]

Noun

1. A clothing size for short women; a garment in this size.^[6][2]
2. (genetics) A petite strain of yeast.^[2]

Word family

• petiteness
• petite bourgeoisie

Related words

• petit
• petty
• pettitoes

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins