Fewest

[fyoo] /fyu/

adjective, fewer, fewest.
1.
not many but more than one:
Few artists live luxuriously.
noun
2.
(used with a plural verb) a small number or amount:
Send me a few.
3.
the few, a special, limited number; the minority:
That music appeals to the few.
pronoun
4.
(used with a plural verb) a small number of persons or things:
A dozen people volunteered, but few have shown up.
Idioms
5.
few and far between, at widely separated intervals; infrequent:
In Nevada the towns are few and far between.
6.
quite a few, a fairly large number; many:
There were quite a few interesting things to do.
/fjuː/
determiner
1.

2.
(preceded by a)

3.
(informal) a good few, several
4.
few and far between

5.
have a few, have a few too many, to consume several (or too many) alcoholic drinks
6.
(informal) not a few, quite a few, several
noun
7.
the few, a small number of people considered as a class: the few who fell at Thermopylae Compare many (sense 4)
adj.

Old English feawe (plural; contracted to fea) “few, seldom, even a little,” from Proto-Germanic *faw-, from PIE root *pau- (1) “few, little” (cf. Latin paucus “few, little,” paullus “little,” parvus “little, small,” pauper “poor;” Greek pauros “few, little,” pais (genitive paidos) “child;” Latin puer “child, boy,” pullus “young animal;” Oscan puklu “child;” Sanskrit potah “a young animal,” putrah “son;” Old English fola “young horse;” Old Norse fylja “young female horse;” Old Church Slavonic puta “bird;” Lithuanian putytis “young animal, young bird”). Always plural in Old English.

Phrase few and far between attested from 1660s. Unusual ironic use in quite a few “many” (1883), earlier a good few (1828). The noun is late 12c., fewe, from the adjective.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. [Winston Churchill, 1940]