Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
petit [pet-ee; French puh-tee] EXAMPLES|WORD ORIGIN adjective Law. small; petty; minor. Liberaldictionary.com
Origin of petit 1325–75; Middle English Middle French; see petty ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem [en-se pe-tit plah-ki-dahm soo b lee-ber-tah-te kwee-ey-tem; English en-see pee-tit plas-i-dam suhb lib-er-tey-tee kwahy-ee-tem] Latin. by the sword she seeks quiet peace under liberty: motto of Massachusetts. Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Examples from the Web for petit Contemporary Examples of petit
Petit walks the wire back and forth four times, varying the walks with little routines from time to time.
Philippe Petit’s Moment of Concern Walking the WTC Tightrope
Anthony Haden-Guest
August 8, 2014
“I study [sic] the Towers in France when they were being planned,” Petit says.
Philippe Petit’s Moment of Concern Walking the WTC Tightrope
Anthony Haden-Guest
August 8, 2014
Paul Winter played the saxophone and Melissa Leo, the actress, read texts written by Petit himself.
Philippe Petit’s Moment of Concern Walking the WTC Tightrope
Anthony Haden-Guest
August 8, 2014
Petit says that somebody once told him they understood his reliance on his eyesight, his sense of touch, even his sense of smell.
Philippe Petit’s Moment of Concern Walking the WTC Tightrope
Anthony Haden-Guest
August 8, 2014
Petit appeared in white and began walking the wire sometime after six.
Philippe Petit’s Moment of Concern Walking the WTC Tightrope
Anthony Haden-Guest
August 8, 2014
Historical Examples of petit
Will madame be so good to enter our petit salon at the front, n’est-ce-pas?
Harry Leon Wilson
Why, mon petit, it was years ago in Limousin, and how can I bear in mind what was the cause of it?
Arthur Conan Doyle
Does a newspaper, even the ubiquitous Petit Journal, penetrate into these solitudes?
Matilda Betham-Edwards
This paper was my contract, and mon petit Dame explained that she was not my mother.
Sarah Bernhardt
Mon petit Dame came downstairs, with her grave husband, and kissed me.
Sarah Bernhardt
British Dictionary definitions for petit petit adjective (prenominal) mainly law of little or lesser importance; smallpetit jury Word Origin for petit C14: from Old French: little, of obscure origin 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) Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
