Etymograph

English

few

Few comes from Middle English fewe ‘few, little, not many’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂w-‘few’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fawazreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*faureconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fēaw
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fewe‘few’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588few

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂w-‘few’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fawazreconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*faureconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150fēaw
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fewe‘few’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588few

Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Your men are valiant but their number few, And…”

The story

Also related with Latin paucus (‘little, few’) and pauper (‘poor’), from which latter English poor and pauper; see these.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- ‘few, small’

poor, pose, pause, puppy, pupil, puppet, pediatrics, pave, filly, pedagogy, menopausal, paucity, pupa, orthopedics, puerile, posada, 31 more

through Middle English fewe ‘few, little, not many’

fewer

Today it means

det An indefinite, but usually small, number of.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- / few

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