adverbdeterminerpronoun

peu

little · few

Cela indique une petite quantité ou un nombre réduit de quelque chose.

Definition & meaning

Peu generally means “little,” “not much,” “few,” or “not many.” The exact translation depends on what it describes:

With a noun, it indicates a small quantity or number: peu de temps () means “little time”; peu de personnes () means “few people.”
With a verb, it can mean “little” or “not much”: Il parle peu () means “He speaks little” or “He doesn’t speak much.”
With an adjective or adverb, it often means “not very”: peu intéressant () means “not very interesting.”
In un peu (), it means “a little” or “a bit”: Je suis un peu fatigué () means “I’m a little tired.”

Grammar & Word origin

Peu is usually an invariable adverb or quantifier: its form does not change for gender or number. Before a noun, it is commonly followed by de (): peu de livres (), “few books.”

In un peu, it is used as a masculine noun meaning “a small amount.” The word comes from Latin paucus, meaning “few” or “little.” It is pronounced /pø/.

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms vary by context:

un peu ( means “a little” and usually sounds less absolute than peu.
presque pas () means “almost not” or “hardly,” and suggests an amount close to zero.
rarement () means “rarely”; it can replace peu when describing how often something happens, but not its quantity.