Few
few (English)
Etymology
From - fewe||few|lang=enm, from - feaw|fēawa, fēawe, fēa|few|lang=ang, from - fawaz|few|lang=en, from - paw-|few, small|lang=en. Cognate with - -
Persiska - fā, - - - fao, fō|few, little|lang=goh, - - - |few|lang=non, - - - |tr=fawai|few|lang=got|sc=Goth, - - - |little, few|lang=la
Engelska - poor.
Pronunciation
- /fjuː/, /fju:/
- /fju/, /fju/
en-us-few.ogg
- Audio (UK)
Rhymes: uː
Determiner
en|determiner|comparative|fewer|superlative|fewest
preceded by another determiner
An
indefinite, but usually
small,
number of.
I was expecting lots of people at the party, but very few (=almost none) turned up.
Quite a few of them (=many of them) were pleasantly surprised.
I don't know how many drinks I've had, but I've had a few. This usage is likely ironic.
used alone
Not
many; a small (in comparison with another number stated or implied) but somewhat indefinite number of.
There are few people who understand quantum theory.
Many are called, but few are chosen.
of clouds
(US?) Obscuring one eighth to two eighths of the sky.
Tonight.. A few clouds. Increasing cloudiness overnight.
NOAA definition of the term "few clouds": An official sky cover classification for aviation weather observations, descriptive of a sky cover of 1/8 to 2/8. This is applied only when obscuring phenomenon aloft are present--that is, not when obscuring phenomenon are surface-based, such as fog.
of rainfall with regard to a location
(US?) Having a 10 percent chance of measurable precipitation (0.01 inch); used interchangeably with
isolated.
Usage notes
- Few is used with plural nouns only; its synonymous counterpart little
is used with Appendix:Glossary#uncountable|uncountable nouns.
Although indefinite in nature, a few is usually more than two (two often being referred to as "a couple of"), and less than "several". If the sample population is say between 5 and 20, a few would mean three or four, but no more than this. However, if the population sample size were in the millions, "a few" could refer to several hundred items. In other words, few in this context means a very very small percentage but way over the 3 or 4 usually ascribed to it its use with much much smaller numbers.
- Few is grammatically affirmative but semantically negative, and it can
license negative_polarity_items. For example,
lift_a_finger usually cannot be used in affirmative sentences, but can be used in sentences with - few.
: He didn't lift a finger to help us.
: *He lifted a finger to help us. (ungrammatical)
: Few people lifted a finger to help us.
: *A few people lifted a finger to help us. (ungrammatical)
: *Fewer people lifted a finger to help us. (ungrammatical)
References
Meteorology (both senses)
: NOAA Glossary: f
Translations
indefinite, usually small number
Albanska - pak
Arabiska - قليلا
: Egyptian_Arabic - شوية|tr=shuwáyya|sc=Arab
Armenian: քիչ (k'ič), - սակավ|tr=sakav
Burmese - နည်း|tr=nè:|sc=Mymr
Katalanska - poc
Kroatiska - malo
Danska - få
Holländska - weinig
Esperanto - malmulta|xs=Esperanto
Finska - harva,
muutama,
fi|jokunen
Franska - peu
Friulian - pôc
Tyska - wenig
Grekiska - λίγοςGrekiska - μερικοί
Hebrew - אחדים|m|p|alt=אֲחָדִים|tr=achadím
Ungerska - kevés
Ido: poka
Indonesiska - sedikit
Italienska - poco
Japanska - 少し
Koreanska - 적다
Kurdish - کهم|sc=ku-Arab
Makedonska - малку
Norska - få,
noen
Portugisiska - poucos,
poucas
Ryska - немногий
Sicilian - pocu
Spanska - poco
Svenska - få
Telugu: కొద్ది (koddi), కొలది (koladi)
Turkiska - az
small number
Arabiska - قليل
Armenian: քիչ (k'ič), - սակավ|tr=sakav
Burmese - နည်း|tr=nè:|sc=Mymr
Chinese:
: Mandarin - 少|tr=shǎo|sc=Hani
Estniska - vähe
Finska - vähän,
muutama
Franska - peu
Hindiska - कम
Italienska - pochi
Japanska - わずか,
少数
Kurdish - کهمێ
Makedonska - малкуMakedonska - малкумина
Norska - få
Persiska - کم
Polska - kilka,
parę
Portuguese: poucos , poucas
Ryska - мало
Spanska - pocos,
pocas
Svenska - fåtal
Urdu - کم|tr=kam|sc=ur-Arab
Vietnamesiska - ít
meteorology: obscuring 1-2 eighths of the sky
Finnish: see: pilvisyys#Usage_notes|pilvisyys
jbo
: so'u
Antonyms
many
Related terms
a_few
little
quite_a_few
Pronoun
Few people, few things.
Many are called, but few are chosen.
Antonyms
many
Statistics
- tell|because|177|few|whom|love|far
zh-min-nan:few
simple:few
Fullständig information på
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/few