Smallとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English smal, from 古期英語 smæl (“small, narrow, slender”), from Proto-Germanic *smalaz (“small”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mal-, *(s)mel- (“small, mean, malicious”). Cognate with Scots smal; sma (“small”); West Frisian smel (“narrow”); Dutch smal (“narrow”); German schmal (“narrow, small”); Danish, Norwegian, Swedish smal (“narrow; thin; slender”); Latin malus (“bad”); Russian ма́лый (mályj, “small”).

形容詞

small (comparative smaller, superlative smallest)

1. Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 5, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.

   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.

   A small serving of ice cream.

   A small group.

   He made us all feel small.

2. (figurative) Young, as a child.

   Remember when the children were small?

3. (writing, incomparable) Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.
   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 584:

     "I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small "c", of course."

4. Envincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
   • 1851, Thomas Carlyle, The Life of John Sterling

     A true delineation of the smallest man is capable of interesting the greatest man.

5. Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.

   a small space of time

6. (archaic) Slender, gracefully slim.

同意語

• (not large または big): little, microscopic, minuscule, minute, tiny; see also Thesaurus:tiny
• (young, as a child): little, wee (Scottish), young
• (of written letters): lowercase, minuscule

反意語

• See also Thesaurus:large
• (not large または big): capital, big, generous (said of an amount of something given), large
• (young, as a child): adult, grown-up, old
• (of written letters): big, capital, majuscule, uppercase

派生語

副詞

small (comparative smaller, superlative smallest)

1. In a small fashion. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. In or into small pieces.
   • 2009, Ingrid Hoffman, CBS Early Morning for September 28, 2009 (transcription)

     That's going to go in there. We've got some chives small chopped as well.

3. (obsolete) To a small extent.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lvcrece (First Quarto)‎^{[It small avails my mood.]}, London: Printed by Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664, line 1273:

4. (obsolete) In a low tone; softly.
   • c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act 1, scene 2], line 49:

     That's all one: you shall play it in a mask, and / you may speak as small as you will.

派生語

• writ small

名詞

small (複数形 smalls)

1. (まれに) Any part of something that is smaller or slimmer than the rest, now usually with anatomical reference to the back.

派生語

• small of the back

動詞

small (三人称単数 現在形 smalls, 現在分詞 smalling, 過去形および過去分詞形 smalled)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make little or less.
2. (intransitive) To become small; to dwindle.
   • 1917, Thomas Hardy, The Clock of the Years

     And smalled till she was nought at all.

アナグラム

• malls