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Bit vs Little - What's the difference?

bit | little |

As adverbs the difference between bit and little

is that bit is to a small extent; in a small amount (usually with "a") while little is not much.

As adjectives the difference between bit and little

is that bit is bitten while little is small in size.

As a noun bit

is (metal in horse's mouth) A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to reins to direct the animal.

As a verb bit

is to put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of (a horse).

As a determiner little is

not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).

As a proper noun Little is

{{surname}.

bit

English

(wikipedia bit)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) bita and bite - all from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A piece of metal placed in a horse's mouth and connected to reins to direct the animal.
  • A rotary cutting tool fitted to a drill, used to bore holes.
  • (dated, British) A coin of a specified value. (Also used for a nine-pence coin in the British Caribbean)
  • (US) An eighth of a dollar. Note that there is no coin minted worth 12.5 cents. (When this term first came into use, the Spanish 8 reales coin was widely used as a dollar equivalent, and thus the 1 real coin was equivalent to 12.5 cents.)
  • (historical, US) In the southern and southwestern states, a small silver coin (such as the real) formerly current; commonly, one worth about 12½ cents; also, the sum of 12½ cents.
  • A small amount of something.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=15 citation , passage=‘No,’ said Luke, grinning at her. ‘You're not dull enough! […] What about the kid's clothes? I don't suppose they were anything to write home about, but didn't you keep anything? A bootee or a bit of embroidery or anything at all?’}}
  • (informal) Specifically , a small amount of time.
  • A portion of something.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.
  • Somewhat; something, but not very great; also used like jot and whit to express the smallest degree.
    • Am I bored? Not a bit of it!
  • * T. Hook
    • My young companion was a bit of a poet.
  • (slang) A prison sentence, especially a short one.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • (An excerpt of material) An excerpt of material making up part of a show, comedy routine, etc.
  • The part of a key which enters the lock and acts upon the bolt and tumblers.
    • (Knight)
  • The cutting iron of a plane.
    • (Knight)
    Synonyms
    * (coin) coin, piece * (small piece) morsel (of food), piece, scrap * (portion) portion, share, segment * (horse equipment) snaffle, pelham, kimberwicke
    Derived terms
    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Adverb

    (-)
  • To a small extent; in a small amount (usually with "a").
    • That's a bit too sweet.

    Verb

    (bitt)
  • To put a bridle upon; to put the bit in the mouth of (a horse).

    • Etymology 2

    See bite

    Verb

    (head)
  • (bite)
    • Your dog bit me!
  • , bitten
    • I have been bit by your dog!

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (label) bitten.
  • (label) Having been bitten.
  • *
  • *
  • *

    • Etymology 3

    Coined by (John Tukey) in 1946 as an abbreviation of (binary digit), probably influenced by connotations of “small portion”.[http://www.princeton.edu/pr/news/98/q2/0602-honorary.html][http://www.thocp.net/timeline/1944.htm
  • 1946] First used in print 1948 by (Claude Shannon). Compare (byte) and (nybble).

    • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mathematics, computing) A binary digit, generally represented as a 1 or 0.
  • (computing) The smallest unit of storage in a digital computer, consisting of a binary digit.
  • (information theory, cryptography) Any datum that may take on one of exactly two values.
    • status bits''' on IRC; permission '''bits in a file system
  • (information theory) A unit of measure for information entropy.
  • * {{quote-web, date = 2011-05-17
    • , author = Lisa Grossman , title = Entropy Is Universal Rule of Language , site = Wired Science , url = http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/05/universal-entropy/ , accessdate = 2012-09-26}}
    The researchers found that the original texts spanned a variety of entropy values in different languages, reflecting differences in grammar and structure.
    But strangely, the difference in entropy between the original, ordered text and the randomly scrambled text was constant across languages. This difference is a way to measure the amount of information encoded in word order, Montemurro says. The amount of information lost when they scrambled the text was about 3.5 bits per word.
    Synonyms
    * (smallest unit of storage) b
    Derived terms
    * bit-depth * bitwise * hidden bit * high-order bit * least significant bit * most significant bit * * * * *
    See also
    * ban, nat, qubit

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English irregular simple past forms 1000 English basic words ----

    little

    English

    (wikipedia little)

    Adjective

  • Small in size.
  • Insignificant, trivial.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author= Chico Harlan
    • , volume=189, issue=2, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Japan pockets the subsidy … , passage=Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."}}
  • Very young.
  • (of a sibling) Younger.
  • * 1871 October 18, The One-eyed Philosopher [pseudonym], "Street Corners", in Judy: or the London serio-comic journal , volume 9, page 255 [http://books.google.com/books?id=_B4oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA255]:
    • If you want to find Little' France, take any turning on the north side of Leicester square, and wander in a zigzag fashion Oxford Streetwards. The ' Little is rather smokier and more squalid than the Great France upon the other side of the Manche.
  • * 2004 , Barry Miles, Zappa: A Biography , 2005 edition, ISBN 080214215X, page 5:
    • In the forties, hurdy-gurdy men could still be heard in all those East Coast cities with strong Italian neighbourhoods: New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. A visit to Baltimore's Little Italy at that time was like a trip to Italy itself.
  • Small in amount or number, having few members.
  • Short in duration; brief.
    • a little sleep
  • Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.
  • * Tennyson
    • The long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise, / Because their natures are little .

    Usage notes

    Some authorities regard both littler' and '''littlest''' as non-standard. The OED says of the word little: "''the adjective has no recognized mode of comparison. The difficulty is commonly evaded by resort to a synonym (as smaller, smallest); some writers have ventured to employ the unrecognized forms littler, littlest, which are otherwise confined to dialect or imitations of childish or illiterate speech.''" The forms '''lesser''' and ' least are encountered in animal names such as lesser flamingo and least weasel.

    Antonyms

    * (small) large, big * (young) big * (younger) big

    Adverb

  • Not much.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.
  • Not at all.
  • :
  • *
  • *:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 13, author=Alistair Magowan, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd , passage=But as United saw the game out, little did they know that, having looked likely to win their 13th Premier League title, it was City who turned the table to snatch glory from their arch-rivals' grasp.}}

    Antonyms

    * much

    Determiner

  • Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).
    • There is little water left.
    We had very little to do.

    Usage notes

    * is used with uncountable nouns, few with plural countable nouns.

    Antonyms

    * (not much) much

    Related terms

    * a little * li'l, li'l', lil * little by little * little old

    Statistics

    * 100 English basic words English degree adverbs 1000 English basic words