What is the Latin word for few?

The usual Latin words for “few” are paucī, paucus, perpaucus; also multus, plērumque. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“few” in Latin

paucīfew, small group of people; the oligarchs paucusfew, little perpaucusvery little, very few multusmuch; many plērumquethe greatest part, the greater part

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

few

pauci (ὀλίγοι; opposed to complures, with substantives in the plur.; the sing., paucus, is foreign to standard prose) few people, pauci: very few, perpauci; perquam pauci; paucissimi: not a few (i. e., persons), multi (many); plerique (a great many, a great number): few things, pauca (noun plur.): in a few words, paucis verbis; also, paucis only; as few as possible, quam minime multi. How few are there who...? quotusquisque est, qui, etc. (with subjunctive).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for few?: The usual Latin words for “few” are paucī, paucus, perpaucus; also multus, plērumque. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.