wee
[wee]
- little; very small.
- very early: in the wee hours of the morning.
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Origin of wee
before 1150 for an earlier sense; Middle English we, variant of wei (small) quantity, Old English wēg, Anglian form of wǣge weight, akin to wegan to weigh1
Synonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
teenymicroscopiclittleslightdiminutiveminusculepetiteminiatureinfinitesimalLilliputianminuteinsignificantnegligiblepunyteensyteensy-weensybitsybittyitsy-bitsyitty-bittywee1
- very small; tiny; minute
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- mainly Scot a short time (esp in the phrase bide a wee.)
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Word Origin
C13: from Old English wǣg weight
wee2
- the act or an instance of urinating
- urine
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- (intr) to urinate
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Also called: wee-wee
Word Origin
of unknown origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for weest
wee
adj.
"extremely small," mid-15c., from earlier noun use in sense of "quantity, amount" (cf. a littel wei "a little thing or amount," c.1300), from Old English wæge "weight" (see weigh). Adj. use wee bit apparently developed as parallel to such forms as a bit thing "a little thing." Wee hours is attested by 1891, from Scot. wee sma' hours (1787, Burns). Wee folk "faeries" is recorded from 1819. Weeny "tiny, small" is from 1790.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper