малый

Inherited from Old East Slavic малъ (malŭ), from Proto-Slavic *malъ, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mal-, *(s)mel-, whence English small.

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ма́лый • (mályj) (comparative (по)ме́ньше, superlative мале́йший or ме́ньший)

1. small, little
2. short

• The short form should not be conflated with the adjective мал (mal, “too small”), which has lexicalized as a short-form-only adjective in its own right.
• A special short form is found in the expression от ма́ла до вели́ка (ot mála do velíka, “all ages”, literally “from small to big”). Here, ма́ла and вели́ка are old short genitives.
• A special short form is found in the expression ку́ча мала́ (kúča malá, “pile of people, disorderly heap”, literally “small pile”). Here, мала́ is an old short feminine attributive adjective.
• A special short form is found in the expression мал мала́ ме́ньше (mal malá ménʹše, “one (child, object, etc.) smaller than the next”, literally “small smaller”). Here, мал (masculine) and мала́ (feminine) are old short attributive adjectives.

• мал (mal)

• малёк (maljók)
• малить (malitʹ)
• ма́ло (málo)
• ма́ло ли (málo li)
• ме́ньший (ménʹšij)
• меньшой (menʹšoj)
• наиме́ньший (naiménʹšij)
• умали́ть (umalítʹ)

ма́лый • (mályj) m anim (genitive ма́лого, nominative plural ма́лые, genitive plural ма́лых)

1. fellow, guy, chap

   Synonyms: па́рень (párenʹ), ю́ноша m (júnoša)

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “малый”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “малый”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 1 (а – пантомима), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 505