wee

wee
\ \ English has two words wee. The older, ‘small’ [OE], was originally a noun, Old English wēg or wēge. This meant ‘weight’, and is closely related to English weigh. Its use in contexts such as a little wee, literally ‘a small weight’, meant that by the 13th century it had shifted semantically to ‘small amount’, but it did not become an adjective until the 15th century. Weeny was derived from it in the 18th century. Wee ‘urine, urinate’ [20] and its reduplication wee-wee [20] are nursery words, and no doubt originated in some sort of fanciful imitation of the sound of urinating.
\ \ Cf.⇒ WEIGH

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • 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 O.E. wæge weight (see WEIGH (Cf. weigh)). Adj. use wee bit apparently developed as parallel to such… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Wee — Wee, a. Very small; little. [Colloq. & Scot.] [1913 Webster] A little wee face, with a little yellow beard. Shak. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Wee — Wee, n. [OE. we a bit, in a little we, probably originally meaning, a little way, the word we for wei being later taken as synonymous with little. See {Way}.] A little; a bit, as of space, time, or distance. [Obs. or Scot.] [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • wee — /wee/, adj., weer, weest. 1. little; very small. 2. very early: in the wee hours of the morning. [bef. 1150 for an earlier sense; ME we, var. of wei (small) quantity, OE weg, Anglian form of waege weight, akin to wegan to WEIGH1] Syn. 1. tiny,… …   Universalium

  • wee — [adj] very small, tiny bitsy*, bitty, diminutive, infinitesimal, insignificant, itsy bitsy*, itty bitty*, Lilliputian, little, microscopic, miniature, minuscular, minuscule, minute, negligible, pee wee*, petite, pint sized*, pocket size*, puny,… …   New thesaurus

  • wee — Ⅰ. wee [1] ► ADJECTIVE (weer, weest) chiefly Scottish ▪ little. ORIGIN Old English. Ⅱ. wee [2] informal, chiefly Brit. ► NOUN 1) …   English terms dictionary

  • wee — diminutive, tiny, teeny, weeny, *small, little, minute, microscopic, miniature, petite …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • wee — [wē] adj. weer, weest [ME we, wei, small quantity (only in north Eng & Scot dial.) < OE (Anglian) wege, weg < base of wegan, to bear: see WEIGH1] very small; tiny …   English World dictionary

  • wee — cock·a·wee; ke·wee·naw·an; ke·yau·wee; se·wee; wee; wee·ny; wee·shy; wee·ver; wee·vil; wee·viled; wee·vily; wick·a·wee; pee·wee; wee·shie; wee·villed; wee·vil·ly; …   English syllables

  • wee — wee1 [wi:] adj [usually before noun] [Date: 1400 1500; Origin: wee small amount, short time (13 20 centuries), from Old English wAge weight ] 1.) informal very small used especially in Scottish English ▪ My wee boy is three. 2.) a wee bit… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • wee — [[t]wi͟ː[/t]] wees, weeing, weed 1) ADJ: ADJ n Wee means small in size or extent. [SCOTTISH, INFORMAL] I ve got a wee kitten in the flat... He just needs to calm down a wee bit. Syn: little 2) VERB To wee means to urinate. Wee is an informa …   English dictionary

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