few

[fyoo] /fyu/

adjective, fewer, fewest.

not many but more than one:

Few artists live luxuriously.

noun

(used with a plural verb) a small number or amount:

Send me a few.

the few, a special, limited number; the minority:

That music appeals to the few.

pronoun

(used with a plural verb) a small number of persons or things:

A dozen people volunteered, but few have shown up.

Idioms

few and far between, at widely separated intervals; infrequent:

In Nevada the towns are few and far between.

quite a few, a fairly large number; many:

There were quite a few interesting things to do.

Origin

before 900; Middle English fewe, Old English fēawe; cognate with Gothic fawai; akin to Latin paucus few, paulus little, pauper poor, Greek paûros little, few

Related forms

overfew, adjective

Examples from the web for few

In-flight brought some pleasant surprises and also a few more kinks.
But the process of building the new garden turned into an adventure with a few unforeseen twists.
If rain doesn't do the job for you, moisten the bed thoroughly a few days before you intend to plant.
As the last few years demonstrate, financial innovations can be used as tools of economic destruction.
But in the past few years the web has hastened the decline.
Profit would come from selling a lot of them cheaply, not servicing a few at a great price.
We are currently updating the site and should be back within a few hours.
The past few weeks, however, have been one of those rare phases.
few people register because the legal period for doing so is short and comes many months before elections.
The few existing dirt roads between settlements are littered with potholes, some so big that cars disappear into them.

British Dictionary definitions for few

few

/fjuː/

determiner

a small number of; hardly any: few men are so cruel
(as pronoun; functioning as plural): many are called but few are chosen

(preceded by a)

a small number of: a few drinks
(as pronoun; functioning as plural): a few of you

(informal) a good few, several

few and far between

at great intervals; widely spaced
not abundant; scarce

have a few, have a few too many, to consume several (or too many) alcoholic drinks

(informal) not a few, quite a few, several

noun

the few, a small number of people considered as a class: the few who fell at Thermopylae Compare many (sense 4)

Derived Forms

fewness, noun

less

Word Origin

Old English fēawa; related to Old High German fao little, Old Norse fār little, silent

Word Origin and History for few

adj.

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.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. [Winston Churchill, 1940]

Idioms and Phrases with few

few

also see: