Petit
//ˈpɛtət// adj, name, noun
adj, name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A little schoolboy. obsolete, plural-normally
- 2 Synonym of brevier. dated, uncountable
- 3 A kind of pigeon. obsolete, rare
Adjective
- 1 Petite: small, little. uncommon
"And by what small, petit Hints does the Mind catch hold of, and recover a vanishing Notion?"
- 2 Petty, in its various senses:; Few in number. obsolete
- 3 Petty, in its various senses:; Unimportant; cheap; easily replaced. uncommon
- 4 Petty, in its various senses:; Small, minor.
- 5 Petty, in its various senses:; Secondary; lower in rank. archaic
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"We ate some petit fours in Paris."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English petit, from Old French petit, from Late Latin *pitittus, diminutive of Latin *pit-, possibly from Proto-Celtic *pett- (“part, bit, piece”) (see Latin pettia), or of imitative origin. Compare also Latin pitinnus (“small”), pitulus, Italian pezza. Doublet of petty.
Etymology 2
From French petit (“brevier”) directly or via German Petit (“brevier”).
Etymology 3
From French Petit.
Related phrases
More for "petit"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.