few

Etymology

From Middle English fewe, from Old English fēaw (“few”), from Proto-West Germanic *fau, from Proto-Germanic *fawaz (“few”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few, small”). Cognate with Old Saxon fā (“few”), Old High German fao, fō (“few, little”), Old Norse fár (“few”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍃 (faus, “few”), Latin paucus (“little, few”) (whence English pauper, poor etc.). More at poor.

det

1. (preceded by another determiner) An indefinite, but usually small, number of.
   No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again. 2013-08-10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848
   There are a few cars (=some, but a relatively small number) in the street.
   Quite a few people (=a significant number) were pleasantly surprised.
   I think he's had a few drinks. [This usage is likely ironic.]
2. (used alone) Not many; a small (in comparison with another number stated or implied) but somewhat indefinite number of.
   There are very few people who understand quantum theory.
   I was expecting a big crowd at the party, but very few people (=almost none) turned up.
3. (meteorology, of clouds) Obscuring one to two oktas (eighths) of the sky.
   Tonight: A few clouds. Increasing cloudiness overnight.
   NOAA definition of the term "few clouds": An official sky cover classification for aviation weather observations, descriptive of a sky cover of 1/8 to 2/8. This is applied only when obscuring phenomena aloft are present--that is, not when obscuring phenomena are surface-based, such as fog.
4. (meteorology, of rainfall with regard to a location) (US?) Having a 10 percent chance of measurable precipitation (0.01 inch); used interchangeably with isolated.

pron

1. Few people, few things.
   Many are called, but few are chosen.