# small

> English word · Adjective · IPA /smɔl/ · frequency rank #291

## Definitions
1. Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
2. Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
3. Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
4. Young, as a child.
5. Minuscule or lowercase, referring to written or printed letters.
6. Evincing little worth or ability; not large-minded; paltry; mean.
7. Not prolonged in duration; not extended in time; short.
8. Synonym of little (“of an industry or institution(s) therein: operating on a small scale, unlike larger counterparts”).
9. Slender, gracefully slim.
10. That is small (the manufactured size).

## Etymology
From Middle English smal, from Old English smæl (“small, narrow, slender”), from Proto-Germanic *smalaz (“small”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mal-, *(s)mel- (“small, mean, malicious”). Cognate with Scots smal; sma (“small”); West Frisian smel (“narrow”); Dutch smal (“narrow”); German schmal (“narrow, small”); Low German small (“narrow”); Danish, Norwegian, Swedish smal (“narrow; thin; slender”); Latin malus (“bad”); Russian ма́лый (mályj, “small”).

## Easily confused with
- **still** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-still)
- **smart** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-smart)
- **smile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-smile)
- **smell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-smell)
- **spell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-spell)
- **smash** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-smash)
- **spill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-spill)
- **stall** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-stall)
- **snail** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-snail)
- **swell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-swell)
- **stalk** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-stalk)
- **stale** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-stale)
- **smelt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-smelt)
- **snell** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-snell)
- **Stoll** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-stoll)
- **snarl** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-snarl)
- **Somali** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-somali)
- **Stalls** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-stalls)
- **smelly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-smelly)
- **smalls** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/small-vs-smalls)

## Common misspellings (6)
`msall`, `samll`, `smal`, `smlal`, `smmall`, `ssmall`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/small