wenig

See also: Wenig

German

Etymology

From Middle High German weinec, wēnec (“marginal”), from Old High German *weinag, wēnag (“miserable”), from Proto-Germanic *wainagaz. The form with -ei- is original; that with -ē- arose through conflation with the morphologically simpler Old High German wē (“woe”), akin to English woe. The diphthong -ei- later on regularly became -ē- in several dialects, which further strengthened the monophthongal form wenig. Cognate with Dutch weinig, Hunsrik wenich, Yiddish ווייניק (veynik).

The comparative minder comes from Middle High German minder, minre, minner; the Middle High German superlative is minnest, minst. Both are related to min.

Pronunciation

(standard, northern and central Germany) IPA^(key): /ˈveːnɪç/
(standard, southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland) IPA^(key): /ˈveːnɪk/
Audio: (file)
Audio: (file)
Audio (Austria): (file)

Adjective

wenig (strong nominative masculine singular weniger, comparative weniger or minder, superlative am wenigsten or am mindesten)

little, few (a small amount, a small number)

Usage notes

The irregular compared forms minder, am mindesten are now restricted to formal usage where they are still commonly found as adverbs, chiefly in negation and especially when modifying adjectives. For example: nicht minder gefährlich – "no less dangerous", alongside: nicht weniger gefährlich. Otherwise, only the regular forms are now commonly used.

Declension

When not preceded by an article or determiner, wenig is usually left undeclined: wenig Geld, wenig Kinder. It may, alternatively, be declined in the plural: wenige Kinder. The latter is preferable in the sense of “a small percentage of children”, while wenig Kinder is more common in the sense of “a small number of children”. Declined singular forms are possible in certain constructions, but are marginal.
When preceded by an article or determiner, wenig is declined like a normal adjective: das wenige Geld (“the little [amount of] money”).
The comparative forms behave like the positive forms, except that declined plural forms without a preceding article or determiner are very rare.
The superlative forms are declined like normal adjectives.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:wenig.

Related terms

weinen
weh