little

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.