Maliliit

Maliliit is a Tagalog adjective used to describe small size or the presence of multiple small things. It expresses the sense of “small” or “tiny” when referring to more than one item, and can function as both an attributive and predicative modifier. The base form maliit describes a single small object, while maliliit signals plural referents.

In grammar, maliliit is formed with the prefix ma- attached to the root liit (smallness). It often appears before a noun and is followed by na or directly before the noun, as in maliliit na hayop or maliliit na bahay. Adjectives in Filipino generally agree with the noun they modify in number through context rather than through explicit inflection, so maliliit works for plural nouns without additional changes.

Common usage examples include maliliit na hayop (small animals), maliliit na bituin sa langit (tiny stars in the sky), and maliliit na hakbang (small steps). The term can also be used figuratively to describe things of lesser significance, impact, or prevalence, not just physical size. For comparison, smaller in degree is often expressed as mas maliit, and the superlative as pinakamaliit.

Related terms include maliit (small), liit (smallness), and related forms used for different grammatical contexts. Maliliit appears frequently in everyday speech, literature, and media, where it conveys a collective sense of smallness rather than attributing size to a single object.