less

Multiple Entries:
  less    -less    little  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
less/les/

▶determiner & pronoun

• 1 a smaller amount of; not as much.

• 2 fewer in number.

▶adverb to a smaller extent; not so much. ▶preposition minus. ▶adjective archaic of lower rank or importance: James the Less.

– origin OE lǣssa, of Gmc origin.

usage: On the difference in use between less and fewer, see few.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
-less/lɪs/

▶suffix forming adjectives and adverbs.

• 1 (from nouns) not having; free from: flavourless.

• 2 (from verbs) not affected by or not carrying out the action of the verb: tireless.

– derivatives
-lessly suffix,
-lessness suffix.

– origin OE -lēas, from lēas ‘devoid of’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
little/ˈlɪtl/

▶adjective

• 1 small in size, amount, or degree.

  ■ (of a person) young or younger: my little brother.

  ■ denoting something that is the smaller or smallest of those so named.

• 2 of short distance or duration.

• 3 trivial or unimportant.

▶determiner & pronoun

• 1 (a little) a small amount of.

  ■ a short time or distance.

• 2 not much.

▶adverb (less, least)

• 1 (a little) to a small extent.

• 2 hardly or not at all.

– phrases
little by little gradually.
no little considerable.
not a little a great deal (of).

■ very.

– derivatives
littleness noun.

– origin OE lȳtel, of Gmc origin.