different between remain vs few

English

Etymology

From Middle English remainen, from Old French remain-, stressed stem of remanoir, from Latin remane?, mane?, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stay”).

Displaced native Middle English beliven, bliven (“to remain”) (from Old English bel?fan (“to remain, stay”)) due to confluence with related Middle English beleven (“to leave behind”), with which it merged. More at beleave and belive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???me?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n
• Hyphenation: re?main

Noun

remain (plural remains)

1. (chiefly in the plural) That which is left; relic; remainder.
2. (in the plural) That which is left of a human being after the life is gone; relics; a dead body.
3. Posthumous works or productions, especially literary works.
4. (obsolete) State of remaining; stay.

Translations

Verb

remain (third-person singular simple present remains, present participle remaining, simple past and past participle remained)

1. To stay behind while others withdraw; to be left after others have been removed or destroyed
2. (mathematics) To be left after a number or quantity has been subtracted or cut off; to be left as not included or comprised.

3. To continue unchanged in place, form, or condition, or undiminished in quantity; to abide; to stay; to endure; to last.
   • , Book I

     That […] remains to be proved.
4. To await; to be left to.
5. (copulative) To continue in a state of being.

Synonyms

• (to stay behind while others withdraw): linger, stay, tarry; See also Thesaurus:stay behind
• (to be left over after a portion is removed): rest, stay; See also Thesaurus:remain
• (to continue unchanged): endure, last, stay; See also Thesaurus:persist
• (to await; to be left to): await, bide, wait; See also Thesaurus:wait for
• (to continue in a state of being): stay
• belave

Derived terms

• remain to be seen

Translations

Anagrams

• Amrine, Armine, Mainer, Marine, Marnie, Merina, Minear, Reiman, Rieman, airmen, mainer, marine

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