Where does “petty” come from?

Petty comes from Middle English pety, from Middle French petit, from Latin pitittus, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European (s)peyk- meaning to cut or divide.

petty (English): Little, small, secondary in rank or importance;...

Definitions

  1. Little, small, secondary in rank or importance;...

Ancestry of “petty”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishpetiAlternative form of pety
2Middle FrenchPetitsmall
3Old Frenchpetitsmall, little; worthless; valueless; poor; of...
4Gallo-Romancepitittus

Words derived from “petty

Every word from Gallo-Romance pitittus