few English · revision 1792

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725 (Beowulf)|origins=ine-pro *pau-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fjuː/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|fewe]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(AHD)^(MWU 2024) [[inh|ang|fēawe]], [[m|ang|fēawa]], contracted [[m|ang|fēa]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(SOED 2002)^(Hoad 1986) from [[gem-pro|*fawaz]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[ine-pro|*pau-|t=few, little]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(Hoad 1986) Its Germanic cognates include [[ofs|fē|t=little]], [[osx|fā]], [[goh|fao]], [[non|fár|t=little; taciturn]] and [[got|𐍆𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌹|tr=fawai|t=few]] (plural);^(Barnhart 1995)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002) outside Germanic it is related to [[la|paucus|t=few, little]], [[m|la|pauper|t=poor]] and [[m|la|puer|t=child]], [[grc|παῦρος|tr=paûros|t=small, little]] and [[grc|παῖς|tr=paîs|t=child]], and [[sa|पुत्र|tr=putrá|t=son, child]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966) Klein lists many English words from the same root, among them [[foal]], [[paucity]], [[poor]], [[pupil]] and [[puerile]].^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Not many, a small number (Old English, about 725, in ''Beowulf''; also predicatively, 825).^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old English the word was always plural, according to the OED on the analogy of the adverb ''fela'' “many”, and could also mean “seldom” or “even a little”.^(Etymonline) The noun “a small number of persons”, contrasted with the many, dates from about 1175 in Barnhart (about 1300 in Etymonline).^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) The phrase ''few and far between'' is attested from the 1660s.^(Etymonline) The ironic ''a good few'' “a good many”, which Samuel Pegge in 1803 attributed to northern dialect, and ''quite a few'' (1854) mean “many”.^(Etymonline) Jocular ''a few'' as an adverb, “a little”, as in “astonish the natives a few”, was common in 18th- and 19th-century slang, especially American;^(GDoS)^(Weekley 1921) Weekley suggests it may imitate French ''un peu''.^(Weekley 1921) ''A few'' for “several drinks” dates from about 1900.^(GDoS)^(Dalzell 2013) ''The Few'', the RAF pilots of the Battle of Britain, comes from Churchill's speech of August 1940: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”^(Cresswell 2021)^(HTOED)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – Old English ''fēa'', ''fēawe'', in ''Beowulf''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1150 – ''fewe''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * c. 1175 – as a noun, a small number.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1549 – ''the few'', the minority.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1660s – ''few and far between''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1763 – ''a few'', a good deal (slang).^(GDoS)

+ * 1803 – ''a good few''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1854 – ''quite a few''.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1900 – ''a few'', several drinks.^(GDoS)

+ * 1940 – ''the Few'', pilots of the Battle of Britain.^(Cresswell 2021)^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Determiner===

+ # Not many; hardly any: ''few men are so cruel''.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(a few)'' A small number of: ''a few drinks''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # Not many persons or things: ''many are called but few are chosen''.^(MW Collegiate)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(a few)'' A small number of people or things.^(AHD)^(COED 2004)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(the few)'' A select minority: ''the fortunate few''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(the Few, Britain)'' The RAF pilots of the [[Battle of Britain]].^(COED 2004)^(HTOED)

+ # ''(informal, a few)'' Several alcoholic drinks.^(MWU 2024)^(Dalzell 2013)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fewness]]

+ * [[overfew]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[paucity]]

+ * [[poor]]

+ * [[pauper]]

+ * [[foal]]

+ * [[pupil]]

+ * [[puerile]]

+ * [[poultry]]

+ * [[pony]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The traditional rule uses ''fewer'' with things that can be counted (''fewer than four players'') and ''less'' with mass nouns (''less paper''); the American Heritage Dictionary notes, however, that ''less'' is idiomatic before plural nouns of time, amount or distance (''less than three weeks'', ''less than $400'') and in ''no less than'' and ''or less''.^(AHD) ''Quite a few'' and ''a good few'', despite their form, mean “a fairly large number”.^(COED 2004)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}