View source for Talk:little

==Little as a noun==
''Little'' simply cannot be a noun in English. I've just deleted a section that looks like this:

 ===Noun===
 '''little'''
 #a small amount
 #:''Little did I know about mountain climbing before I set off.''
 
 ====Translations====
 *Finnish: [[vähäinen määrä]]
 *Swedish: [[lite]]

This is in fact just the adjective being used without a noun, and the word [[lite]] in Swedish is also an adjective. --[[User:Krun|Krun]] 23:49, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

:That example was indeed incorrect, but: ''He knows '''little''' about British history''? ''Every '''little''' helps''? These are either nouns, or maybe bare determiners (you can't say ''*my little, *one little, *two littles''). In any case, the current entry doesn't account for them. [[User:CapnPrep|CapnPrep]] 23:58, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

::A "bare determiner" is a pronoun. And an adjective used without a noun is a noun. "Little" in ''Little did I know'' is either a pronoun or noun. I think it's a pronoun.

== Little as a determiner ==

The third adjective sense: trifling, negligable ''It's of '''little''' importance.'' is actually a determiner, not an adjective. However, when I tried to make that change, there were some issues WRT to the order of entries and an admin reverted the change.--[[User:BrettR|BrettR]] 15:06, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

:Aren't the examples actually not just examples of the "small in amount/not much" sense? It's only because it's paired with "importance" that the sentence there means "it's trivial". Would a better example not be something like "it's the little things in life"? --[[Special:Contributions/84.246.201.101|84.246.201.101]] 09:43, 28 November 2014 (UTC)

== Bug in SAMPA formatter ==

The SAMPA notation for syllabic 'l' is /l=/. When presented with a final syllabic 'l', as in "little" (/"lItl=/), Wiktionary's SAMPA formatter gets confused and displays "{{{l}}}". How do I fix this?

:Use an escape sequence such as <tt><nowiki>&amp;#x3d;</nowiki></tt> or specify the parameter you're assigning, e.g. <tt><nowiki>{{X-SAMPA|1=/"lItl&#x3d;/}}</nowiki></tt> &rarr; {{X-SAMPA|1=/"lItl=/}}.  (It's not a bug per se.  "=" has a special meaning in template calls; it tells it you're naming a parameter.  You're telling the template to give the parameter <tt>/"litl</tt> the value <tt>/</tt>, but the template is not instructed how to display arbitrary parameters.)  —[[User:Muke|Muke Tever]] 00:06, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

::Thanks! [[User:AndreasWittenstein|AndreasWittenstein]] 19:19, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

:::For future reference, escape sequences should generally not be used unless there is no alternative as they make the source text harder to read. [[User:Thryduulf|Thryduulf]] 02:33, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
:::: X-SAMPA is being phased out completely anyway. [[User:Mglovesfun|Mglovesfun]] ([[User talk:Mglovesfun|talk]]) 17:07, 1 December 2013 (UTC)

== [[Wiktionary:Requests for cleanup|RFC]] discussion: November–December 2014 ==

{{archive-top|rfc|archived|link=Special:PermanentLink/32012644#little}}
{{fake==|1=<s>[[little#Adverb|little]]</s>}}

Some — I suspect all — of the quotations sub ===Adverb=== are attached to the wrong sense. But I seek others' input.<span class="Unicode">&#x200b;—[[User:Msh210|msh210]]℠</span> ([[user talk:Msh210|talk]]) 05:06, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
:{{ping|Msh210}} &nbsp; I think you're right about the first and the third quotes, but I think the second is in the right place.  I've added a link to the second quote's chapter online, and you can check the sense in the quote's context. I fancy it'll be alright for me to shift the two misplaced quotes, and clear the request template away. Thanks for noticing the error! &mdash; [[User:ReidAA|ReidAA]] ([[User talk:ReidAA|talk]]) 09:52, 4 December 2014 (UTC)
::Thanks.<span class="Unicode">&#x200b;—[[User:Msh210|msh210]]℠</span> ([[user talk:Msh210|talk]]) 04:50, 5 December 2014 (UTC)
{{archive-bottom}}

== not often 2. hardly ==

 adverb 
 on rare occasions
 2. hardly or not at all
 Microsoft® Encarta® 2009
--[[User:Backinstadiums|Backinstadiums]] ([[User talk:Backinstadiums|talk]]) 17:52, 7 December 2019 (UTC)

== [[so little]] ==

We have an entry for ''[[so much]]'' but not for ''[[so little]]'' --[[User:Backinstadiums|Backinstadiums]] ([[User talk:Backinstadiums|talk]]) 20:05, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

== Inflections of 'little' ==

 ('''adv'''):
 '''less''' adv comparative (When talking about amount) 
 '''lesser''' adv comparative (To modify an adjective—e.g. "That is a little-known work of art, but this is an even lesser-known one.") 
 '''least''' adv superlative 
 ('''adj'''): 
 '''littler''' adj comparative (For size or age—e.g."That tree is little, but the tree next to it is even littler.") 
 '''littlest''' adj superlative (For size or age—e.g. "Theo is the littlest of my three little brothers.") 
 '''less''' adj comparative (For amount—e.g. "I have little money. Certainly less money than him.") 
 '''lesser''' adj comparative (For degree or intensity—e.g. "She has little love for him. Certainly, her love for him is lesser than her love for her mother.") 
 '''least''' adj superlative (For amount—e.g. "I have little money, but Jim is the one who has least money out of all of us.")
 https://www.wordreference.com/definition/little
--[[User:Backinstadiums|Backinstadiums]] ([[User talk:Backinstadiums|talk]]) 00:40, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

== [[littles]] (plural only) ==

However '''[[littles]]''' reads ''(plural only)'', which one is correct then? --[[User:Backinstadiums|Backinstadiums]] ([[User talk:Backinstadiums|talk]]) 16:42, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

== A little of water spilled  ==

What's wrong with ''A little of water (spilled)''? --[[User:Backinstadiums|Backinstadiums]] ([[User talk:Backinstadiums|talk]]) 19:43, 26 September 2020 (UTC)

== [[quite a little]] ==

Should [[quite a little]] [https://www.wordreference.com/definition/little ''(a considerable amount)''] be an idiom, or SoP? --[[User:Backinstadiums|Backinstadiums]] ([[User talk:Backinstadiums|talk]]) 18:17, 5 November 2020 (UTC)

== 1. Not much ==

This meaning is a synonym of [https://www.wordreference.com/definition/least '''a little'''], isn't it? If so, I'll add it in the definition--[[User:Backinstadiums|Backinstadiums]] ([[User talk:Backinstadiums|talk]]) 17:01, 9 November 2020 (UTC)

== Noun: little vs. a [[little]] ==

What is the best approach to differentiate the nominal meaning of [https://www.wordreference.com/definition/little ''little'' from ''a little''] --[[User:Backinstadiums|Backinstadiums]] ([[User talk:Backinstadiums|talk]]) 20:20, 9 November 2020 (UTC)

== contemptibly small, petty, mean, etc., or so considered  ==

[https://www.wordreference.com/definition/little ''Filthy '''little''' political tricks''] --[[User:Backinstadiums|Backinstadiums]] ([[User talk:Backinstadiums|talk]]) 11:46, 12 March 2021 (UTC)