Word.ws English Dictionary

paucal

/ˈpɔːkəl/US/ˈpɔkəl/

paucal adjective: characterized by having a small number, greater than two, of (usually equivalent) components.

Adjective

paucal (not comparable)

  1. Characterized by having a small number, greater than two, of (usually equivalent) components.
  2. Pertaining to a language form referring to a few or a couple of something (typically three to around ten), e.g. a small group of people.
    • first-person paucal
    • paucal number
  3. Expressing a relatively small quantity or degree.
    • But too much can occur in the negative with a paucal meaning when there is no explicit or implicit infinitival complement: I didn't enjoy it too much is simply an informal alterant of I didn't enjoy it very much.2002, Rodney Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language
    Antonyms:
    multal

Noun

paucal (uncountable)

  1. A language form referring to a few of something (three to around ten), as a small group of people; contrast singular, dual, trial, and plural.

Antonyms of paucal

Origin of paucal

From Latin paucālis (“few, little”), from paucus, plural paucī (“few, little, a few, the select few, the oligarchs”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, little”), + Latin adjective suffix -ālis.

Words formed from paucal

Questions about paucal

What does paucal mean?
Paucal means characterized by having a small number, greater than two, of (usually equivalent) components.
What part of speech is paucal?
Paucal can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce paucal?
Paucal is pronounced /ˈpɔːkəl/ (UK).

Words near paucal in the dictionary

  1. pau-brasil
  2. paua
  3. pauas
  4. paubha
  5. paubhas
  6. paucal
  7. paucality
  8. Paucar
  9. Paucars
  10. pauce
  11. paucennial

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: paucal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-paucal.wav.

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