few

• adj. 很少的；几乎没有的
• pron. 很少
• n. 很少数
• n. (Few)人名；(英)菲尤

来自PIE*pau, 少的，小的，词源同poor, pupil, pullet.引申多种词义。

few

few: [OE] Few traces its history back to the Indo- European base *pau-, denoting smallness of quantity or number, amongst whose other descendants are Latin paucus ‘little’ (source of English paucity [15], French peu ‘few’, and Italian and Spanish poco ‘a little’), Latin (and hence English) pauper ‘poor’, and English poor and poverty. In Germanic it produced *faw-, whose modern representatives are Swedish få, Danish faa, and English few.
=> pauper, poor, poverty

few (adj.)

Old English feawe (plural; contracted to fea) "not many, a small number; seldom, even a little," from Proto-Germanic *faw- (cognates: Old Saxon fa, Old Frisian fe, Old High German fao, Old Norse far, Danish faa).

This is from PIE root *pau- (1) "few, little" (cognates: Latin paucus "few, little," paullus "little," parvus "little, small," pauper "poor;" Greek pauros "few, little," pais (genitive paidos) "child;" Latin puer "child, boy," pullus "young animal;" Oscan puklu "child;" Sanskrit potah "a young animal," putrah "son;" Old English fola "young horse;" Old Norse fylja "young female horse;" Old Church Slavonic puta "bird;" Lithuanian putytis "young animal, young bird").

Always plural in Old English, according to OED "on the analogy of the adverbial fela," meaning "many." Phrase few and far between attested from 1660s. Unusual ironic use in quite a few "many" (1854), earlier a good few (1803).

There is likewise another dialectical use of the word few among them [i.e. "the Northern Counties"], seemingly tending to its total overthrow; for they are bold enough to say--"a good few," meaning a good many. [Samuel Pegge, "Anecdotes of the English Language," London, 1803]

few (n.)

"a small number of persons" (distinguished from the many), c. 1300, fewe, from few (adj.).

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. [Winston Churchill, 1940]

1. I have tried to pack a good deal into a few words.

我尽量言简意赅。

来自柯林斯例句

2. The economy remains deep in recession with few signs of a pick-up.

经济仍深陷衰退之中，几乎没有好转的迹象。

来自柯林斯例句

3. Few would argue that this team has experience and proven ability.

这个队伍的丰富经验和表现出来的实力是众所公认的。

来自柯林斯例句

4. A few are dim-witted drones, but most are talented, frustrated, wasted people.

有几个是愚笨的寄生虫，但是大多数是有才能却不得志而自暴自弃的人。

来自柯林斯例句

5. He sweeps up and does a few odds and ends.

他扫完地，又干了几样杂活儿。

来自柯林斯例句