different between few vs all

English

Etymology

From Middle English fewe, from Old English f?aw (“few”), from Proto-Germanic *fawaz (“few”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh?w- (“few, small”). Cognate with Old Saxon f? (“few”), Old High German fao, f? (“few, little”), Old Norse fár (“few”), Gothic ???????????????? (faus, “few”), Latin paucus (“little, few”) (whence English pauper, poor etc.). More at poor.

Pronunciation

• (UK)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fju?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /fju/
• Rhymes: -u?
• Homophone: phew

Determiner

few (comparative fewer or less, superlative fewest or least)

1. (preceded by another determiner) An indefinite, but usually small, number of.

   There are a few cars (=some, but a relatively small number) in the street.

   I was expecting a big crowd at the party, but very few people (=almost none) turned up.

   Quite a few people (=a significant number) were pleasantly surprised.

   I think he's had a few drinks. [This usage is likely ironic.]

2. (used alone) Not many; a small (in comparison with another number stated or implied) but somewhat indefinite number of.

3. (meteorology, of clouds) Obscuring one to two oktas (eighths) of the sky.

   NOAA definition of the term "few clouds": An official sky cover classification for aviation weather observations, descriptive of a sky cover of 1/8 to 2/8. This is applied only when obscuring phenomena aloft are present--that is, not when obscuring phenomena are surface-based, such as fog.

4. (meteorology, of rainfall with regard to a location) (US?) Having a 10 percent chance of measurable precipitation (0.01 inch); used interchangeably with isolated.

Usage notes

• Few is used with plural nouns only; its synonymous counterpart little is used with uncountable nouns.

• Although indefinite in nature, a few is usually more than two (two often being referred to as "a couple of"), and less than "several". If the sample population is say between 5 and 20, a few would mean three or four, but no more than this. However, if the population sample size were in the millions, "a few" could refer to several hundred items. In other words, few in this context means a very very small percentage but far more than the 3 or 4 usually ascribed to it in its use with much much smaller numbers.

• Few is grammatically affirmative but semantically negative, and it can license negative polarity items. For example, anything usually cannot be used in affirmative sentences, but can be used in sentences with few.

• He didn't do anything to help us.
• *He did anything to help us. (ungrammatical)
• Few people did anything to help us.
• *A few people did anything to help us. (ungrammatical, since a few is a different unit of meaning from few and does not license NPIs)

• Few alone emphasises smallness of number, while a few emphasises some. For example: He's a dull man with few ideas; He's a clever man with a few ideas.

Synonyms

• little (see usage)

Antonyms

• many

Derived terms

• a few
• a good few
• quite a few

Related terms

• paucity
• poor

Translations

Pronoun

few

1. Few people, few things.

   Many are called, but few are chosen.

Antonyms

• many

Translations

References

• Meteorology (both senses)

  NOAA Glossary: f

Middle English

Determiner

few

1. Alternative form of fewe

English

Alternative forms

• al (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English all, from Old English eall (“all, every, entire, whole, universal”), from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz (“all, whole, every”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?el- (“beyond, other”). Cognate with West Frisian al (“all”), Dutch al (“all”), Scots a' (“all”), German all (“all”), Swedish all (“all”), Norwegian all (“all”), Icelandic allur (“all”), Welsh holl (“all”), Irish uile (“all”), Lithuanian aliái (“all, each, every”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??l/
• (US)
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /?l/
  • IPA^(key): [??]
  • (cot–caught merger, Inland Northern American) IPA^(key): /?l/
• Rhymes: -??l
• Homophones: awl, I'll

Determiner

all

1. Every individual or anything of the given class, with no exceptions (the noun or noun phrase denoting the class must be plural or uncountable).
   • In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. In this way all respectable burgesses, down to fifty years ago, spent their evenings.
2. Throughout the whole of (a stated period of time; generally used with units of a day or longer).

   (= through the whole of the day and the whole of the night.)

   (= from the beginning of the year until now.)

3. Only; alone; nothing but.
4. (obsolete) Any.

Derived terms

• given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow

Translations

Pronoun

all

1. Everything.
2. Everyone.

3. The only thing(s).

   All that was left was a small pile of ash.

5. (chiefly Southern US, Midland US, Scotland, Northern Ireland) Used after who, what, where, how and similar words, either without changing their meaning, or indicating that one expects that they cover more than one element, e.g. that "who all attended" is more than one person. (Some dialects only allow this to follow some words and not others.)
   • 1904 October 10, Shea v. Nilima, [US] Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in 1905, Reports Containing the Cases Determined in All the Circuits from the Organization of the Courts, page 266:

     Q. Now, then, when you started to go to stake the claims, who all went along?

     A. I and Johan Peter Johansen, Otto Greiner, and Thorulf Kjelsberg.

   • 1998, Football's Best Short Stories (ed. Paul D. Staudohar), 107:

     "I mean, you could have called us—collect, o'course—jes' to let us know how-all it's a-goin'."

   • 2002, Richard Haddock, Arkalalah, iUniverse (?ISBN), page 73:

     "Where all did he go? What exactly was his job?" Gary shrugged and produced a weak laugh. "I reckon the Middle East. Ain't that where all the oil is?"

   • 2011, Moni Mohsin, Tender Hooks, Random House India (?ISBN):

     "Do you ever ask me what I want to see? Or ask me about where all I've gone, who all I've met, what all I've done? Never. Not for one second. And why? Because you don't give two hoops about me."

6. (colloquial, US) Clipping of y’all. Used only as a vocative.

Translations

Adverb

all (not comparable)

1. (degree) Intensifier.

   It suddenly went all quiet.

   She was all, “Whatever.”

2. (poetic) Entirely; completely; totally.
3. Apiece; each.

   The score was 30 all when the rain delay started.

4. (degree) so much.

   Don't want to go? All the better since I lost the tickets.

5. (obsolete, poetic) Even; just.

Synonyms

• completely

Translations

Noun

all (countable and uncountable, plural alls)

1. (with a possessive pronoun) Everything that one is capable of.

   She gave her all, and collapsed at the finish line.

2. (countable) The totality of one's possessions.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, pp. 37-8:

     she therefore ordered Jenny to pack up her alls and begone, for that she was determined she should not sleep that night within her walls. […] I packed up my little all as well as I could, and went off.

Translations

Conjunction

all

1. (obsolete) Although.

Derived terms

Adjective

all

1. (Pennsylvania, dialect) All gone; dead.

   The butter is all.

Derived terms

• allhood
• allness

Related terms

See also

Anagrams

• LAL, Lal, Lal.

Albanian

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h?elut- (“bitter”). Compare Old English ealu (“ale”), Latin alum (“comfrey”), al?ta (“tawed leather”), Polish zje?cza?y (Eastern) je?ki, i?ki (“rancid”), Ancient Greek ????????? (alúdoimos, “bitter”).

Adjective

all m (feminine alle)

1. of reddish colour

Breton

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?al?/

Adjective

all

1. other

Derived terms

• gwezhall

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Occitan (compare Occitan alh), from Latin allium (compare French ail, Spanish ajo).

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?a?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

all m (plural alls)

1. garlic

Derived terms

• all de bruixa

Further reading

• “all” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Estonian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *alla.

Postposition

all

1. under, below (Governs the genitive)

Derived terms

• all-
• alla
• alt

German

Etymology

From Middle High German al, from Old High German al, from Proto-Germanic *allaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al/
• Rhymes: -al

Determiner

all

1. all
   • 1843, Karl Ludwig Kannegießer (translation from Italian into German), Die göttliche Komödie des Dante Alighieri, 4th edition, 1st part, Leipzig, p. 84:

     ... / Nachdem, von Wuth und Grausamkeit entbronnen, / Der Weiberschwarm die Männer all erschlug.

2. every (in time intervals, with plural noun)

Usage notes

• The bare form all is used with articles and pronouns, which it precedes (as in English). For instance: all die Sachen (“all the things”); all dies[es] Gerede (“all this chitchat”); all[e] meine Freunde (“all my friends”) (more common with the e). Colloquial German often uses the adjective ganz instead: die ganzen Sachen; dies[es] ganze Gerede; meine ganzen Freunde.

Declension

Derived terms

• all zu
• alle, alles (indefinite pronouns)
• alle (adverb)
• aller Enden
• allerhand
• allerorten
• allerorts
• allerseit
• allerseits
• allerwege
• allerwegen
• allerwegs
• allerweil
• Allmacht
• allseits

Further reading

• “all” in Duden online

Gothic

Romanization

all

1. Romanization of ????????????

Ingrian

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *alla. Cognates include Finnish alla and Estonian all.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?al?/

Postposition

all (+ genitive)

1. (of location) under, underneath

Alternative forms

• al

See also

References

• Vitalij Chernyavskij (2005) Ižoran keel (Ittseopastaja)?^[2], page 93

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German and Old High German al

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al/, [?l]
• Rhymes: -?l

Pronoun

all

1. (with uncountable or plural nouns) all
2. (with countable singular nouns) every; each

   Et muss een net mat all Virschlag eens sinn.

   One needn’t agree to every proposition.

Usage notes

• The word is usually uninflected, except for the dative plural, which becomes allen.

Synonyms

• (every, each): jidder, jiddwer

Derived terms

• alles

Middle English

Alternative forms

• al

Etymology

From Old English eall, from Proto-West Germanic *all, from Proto-Germanic *allaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al/

Adverb

all

1. all (entirely, completely)

Determiner

all

1. all, every

Derived terms

• alles

Descendants

• English: all
  • Northumbrian: aal
• Scots: a', aw
• Yola: aul

References

• “al, adv. & conj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse allr.

Determiner

all (neuter singular alt, plural alle)

1. all

Derived terms

• allehelgensdag
• allmektig
• allvitende

References

• “all” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse allr. Akin to English all.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?/ (example of pronunciation)

Determiner

all m or f (neuter alt, plural alle)

1. all

Derived terms

• allehelgensdag
• allmektig
• allvitande

References

• “all” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ll/, [??]

Adjective

all (Anglian)

1. Alternative form of eall

Declension

Adverb

all (Anglian)

1. Alternative form of eall

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German and Old High German al. Compare German all, Dutch al, English all.

Adjective

all

1. all

Related terms

• alliebber

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish alder, from Old Norse allr, from Proto-Germanic *allaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h?el-.

Pronunciation

Determiner

all (neuter allt, masculine alle, plural alla)

1. all

Usage notes

All (with inflections) is used with mass nouns. The corresponding for nouns with ordinary plural is alla.

A masculine-looking form (alle) is virtually only retained in the fixed expressions alle man and allesamman (“everyone”).

See also

• varje
• allihop

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /a?/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /a(?)?/

Verb

all

1. Soft mutation of gall.

Mutation