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• petit
  petit

  adjective

  small; petty; minor.
• Petit
  Petit

  noun

  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)

petit

American  

[pet-ee, puh-tee] / ˈpɛt i, pəˈti /

adjective

Law.

1. small; petty; minor.

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Petit ¹ British  

/ pəti /

noun

1. 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)

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petit ² British  

/ ˈpɛtɪ /

adjective

1. (prenominal) law of little or lesser importance; small

   petit jury

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Etymology

Origin of petit

1325–75; Middle English < Middle French; see petty

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

petit Petit

“Why can’t I be petit an smol?” she wrote in a Reddit post.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026

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

When I went into the sitting room she was already in her chair, her left foot on the footstool, with its petit point cushion, roses in a basket.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

France ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, Zidane netting twice and Emmanuel Petit grabbing a late third.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

In 2002, Cinespia — an Italian portmanteau for “movie theater” and “cinema spy” — screened Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train” at the cemetery for members of Wyatt’s film club, which he ran with Richard Petit.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 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

Jean Henry Petit, head of the civil protection office in Northern Haiti, told local newspaper Le Nouvelliste that the toll could rise due to the large number of people reported missing.

From Barron's ● Apr. 12, 2026

But I was the first and the most enduring of the Greeks at Petit Semi­naire.

From "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel