wee

adjective \ ˈwē \

Updated on: 27 Nov 2017

Definition of wee

1 : very small : diminutive

2 : very early

wee hours of the morning

See wee defined for English-language learners

See wee defined for kids

Examples of wee in a Sentence

He's just a wee lad.

Recent Examples of wee from the Web

These wee chums may help train an infant's immune system and dodge issues like allergies and asthma later in life.

— ars technica, SELF, "Doctors Warn New Parents Against Vaginal Seeding Trend," 27 Oct. 2017
Park Service’ is a wee bit flowery to describe the services of the 6 poorly clothed, chronic alcoholics that fearfully attempt to serve as guards in this area.

— National Geographic, "The Renegade Scientist Who Taught Us to Love Gorillas," 31 Aug. 2017
Fed live from the U.S., its prime-time shows in the U.S. aired during Britain’s wee hours.

— stu woo, WSJ, "21st Century Fox Pulls Plug on Fox News in the U.K.," 29 Aug. 2017
These wee chums may help train an infant's immune system and dodge issues like allergies and asthma later in life.

— beth mole, Ars Technica, "Doctors warn new parents: Step away from the vaginal fluid swabs," 26 Oct. 2017
The show got a wee bit of bad buzz last year for their initial take on Sarah Huckabee Sanders, so tonight Aidy Bryant did nothing.

— daniel fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, "Critic's Notebook: At Least the 'SNL' Season 43 Premiere Amused Ryan Gosling," 1 Oct. 2017
Across the country, leagues are reporting participation declines and some schools and pee-wee programs have dropped their teams for lack of interest.

— sean gregory, Time, "New Study Links Playing Youth Football to Later Brain Damage," 19 Sep. 2017
The Mighty Ducks tells the story of high-strung lawyer Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez), who is forced to coach a pee-wee hockey team as community service after getting arrested for drunk driving.

— katherine schaffstall, The Hollywood Reporter, "The Stars of 'The Mighty Ducks': Where Are They Now?," 2 Oct. 2017
Prince William stepped up to walk wee Prince George to school for the first day of kindergarten.

— christie d'zurilla, latimes.com, "Did You Hear ...? Colin Trevorrow is out, the Emmys are in and more from the week in entertainment," 9 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wee.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of wee

Middle English we, from we, noun, little bit, from Old English wǣge weight; akin to Old English wegan to move, weigh — more at way

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First Known Use: 15th century

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wee Synonyms

WEE Defined for English Language Learners

wee

adjective

Definition of wee for English Language Learners

: very small or very young

WEE Defined for Kids

wee

adjective \ ˈwē \

Definition of wee for Students

: very small : tiny

Medical Dictionary

WEE

abbreviation

medical Definition of WEE

western equine encephalitis; western equine encephalomyelitis

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