petit
adjective
small; petty; minor.
petit
American
[pet-ee, puh-tee]
/ ˈpɛt i, pəˈti /
adjective
Law.
Petit
1
British
/ pəti /
noun
petit
2
British
/ ˈpɛtɪ /
adjective
Etymology
Origin of petit
1325–75; Middle English < Middle French; see petty
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Pungent dried scallops are in a sweet-and-savory fudge petit four, not a classic soup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2025
A steal at $28 for three courses, diners saddle up to the counter, reminiscent of a chef’s table, for a French and Japanese-inspired amuse bouche with a main dessert, followed by petit fours.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2025
Living in Paris for a year certainly had its share of stresses, mostly because my French language skills never really advanced beyond me saying, Je parle français un petit peu, before switching to English.
From Slate ● Jan. 6, 2025
Drago was found guilty of one misdemeanor count of petit larceny for stealing a bouquet and other items from the memorial that Rodriguez had set up to honor her teenage daughter, Kayla Cuevas.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 24, 2023
Lourdes continues waiting on her customer, an elderly woman sizing up a mocha petit four.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
Other enterprises are using the model for coding, Petit added, to reduce the costs of coding agents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
France ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, Zidane netting twice and Emmanuel Petit grabbing a late third.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Grigoryan cites the famous Big Mec — celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre’s decadent, French-inspired burger at Petit Trois — which costs $38.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
“Watching them get acquired by Shein isn’t just a business story, it feels like a generational story, because we were promised that millennial retail could be different,” Petit said of the news about Everlane.
From MarketWatch ● May 19, 2026
“We’re reading Le Petit Prince in French class,” Wes says.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
