French [ edit ]

Etymology [ edit ]

From petit (“small”) +‎ juif (“Jew”). Allegedly the expression came from the time when most cloth merchants in France were Jewish, and would regularly hurt their arm on that spot against a bench while measuring fabric by wrapping it around an arm as an 'anthropomorphic' length measure, the aulne (compare ell)

Pronunciation [ edit ]

Noun [ edit ]

petit juif m (plural petits juifs)