petit

pet·it

[pet-ee; French puh-tee]
adjective Law.
small; petty; minor.

Origin:
1325–75; Middle English < Middle French; see petty

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To Petit
Collins
World English Dictionary
petit (ˈpɛtɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
adj
chiefly (prenominal) law of little or lesser importance; small: petit jury
 
[C14: from Old French: little, of obscure origin]

00:10
Petit is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
Petit (French pəti) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
Roland (rɔlɑ̃). born 1924, French ballet dancer and choreographer. His innovative ballets include Carmen (1949), Kraanerg (1969), and The Blue Angel (1985); he also choreographed films, such as Anything Goes (1956) and Black Tights (1960)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

petit
mid-14c., "trifling," from O.Fr. petit "small" (11c.), probably from stem of L.L. pitinnus "small," of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately from Celtic root *pett- "part, piece, bit" (see piece). Attested as a surname from 1086. Replaced by petty (q.v.) in most usages, except
in established forms such as petit bourgeois "conventional middle-class" (1853, used by Charlotte Brontë earlier than by Marx or Engels; petty bourgeois, however, is attested from 1850), petit mal (1842, "little evil," mild form of epilepsy), and petit four (1884), which in Fr. means "little oven," from O.Fr. four "oven," from L. furnus.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT