petit
- small; petty; minor.
Origin of petit
ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem
- by the sword she seeks quiet peace under liberty: motto of Massachusetts.
Examples from the Web for petit
Contemporary Examples
Petit walks the wire back and forth four times, varying the walks with little routines from time to time.
“I study [sic] the Towers in France when they were being planned,” Petit says.
Paul Winter played the saxophone and Melissa Leo, the actress, read texts written by Petit himself.
Petit says that somebody once told him they understood his reliance on his eyesight, his sense of touch, even his sense of smell.
Petit appeared in white and began walking the wire sometime after six.
Historical Examples
Will madame be so good to enter our petit salon at the front, n'est-ce-pas?
The SpendersHarry Leon Wilson
Why, mon petit, it was years ago in Limousin, and how can I bear in mind what was the cause of it?
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
Does a newspaper, even the ubiquitous Petit Journal, penetrate into these solitudes?
The Roof of FranceMatilda Betham-Edwards
This paper was my contract, and mon petit Dame explained that she was not my mother.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
Mon petit Dame came downstairs, with her grave husband, and kissed me.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
petit
- (prenominal) mainly law of little or lesser importance; smallpetit jury
Word Origin
Petit
- Roland (rɔlɑ̃). 1924–2011, French ballet dancer and choreographer. His innovative ballets include Carmen (1949), Kraanerg (1969), and The Blue Angel (1985); he also choreographed films, such as Anything Goes (1956) and Black Tights (1960)
Word Origin and History for petit
adj.
mid-14c., "trifling," from Old French petit "small, little, young, few in numbers" (11c.), probably from stem of Late Latin pitinnus "small," of uncertain origin; it corresponds to no known Latin form and perhaps is from a Celtic root pett- "part, piece, bit" also found in Italian pezza, English piece. Attested as a surname from 1086. Replaced by petty in most usages, except in established forms such as petit bourgeois "conventional middle-class" (1832; used in English by Charlotte Brontë earlier than by Marx or Engels); petit mal (1842, literally "little evil," mild form of epilepsy), and petit four (1884), which in French means "little oven," from Old French four "oven," from Latin furnus.