Several/few

[Morrus]

I think most folks agree that a "couple" is two.

What, to you, constitutes "a few"? What about "several"?

For me, a few has always been 5-6ish, and several (maybe due to the sound of the word) 7ish to 9ish.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Context is important:

I went to the store with $200. I only have a few bucks left - $15.
Out of 8 gamers only a few had ever played gnomes - two.
A few of us went to the movies. "Us" could be 6 people or 600. What's "a few" of that amount?

Several is similar but seems more likely to refer to a single digit number to me. As my dictionary says - more than two, but less than "many".

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

A couple is two, a few is three, a handful is four or five, and several is six or more ... up to about ten when "many" takes over.

 

[tuxgeo]

Context is important:

This.

In one of his science articles (as contrasted with science fiction), Isaac Asimov described what he said was perhaps the scarcest element on the planet: he said there were hardly any atoms of it on earth at all -- "Only a trillion." (That quote may have been the title of the article.)

It's relative. I'm not sure what it is relative to, but that might also depend on context.

For example: How many Borg spaceships is a "few?" Is one Borg ship a "few?" (Personally, I would think it's rather a lot to handle. I've seen that Star Trek movie about going back in time. . . .)

 

[Zombie_Babies]

2: couple
3: few
4: some
5+: many

I have no idea why that's hardcoded in my brain as it is and no idea whether or not it's caused any confusion.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I think most folks agree that a "couple" is two.

And my English teacher at school always told us that a "couple of things" is most assuredly more than two...

What, to you, constitutes "a few"? What about "several"?

"Several" means a handfull but without any number in mind, while "few" sounds more like a fixed number without actually counting.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

A couple is two, a few is three, a handful is four or five, and several is six or more ... up to about ten when "many" takes over.

Generally this, but as the Man in the Funny Hat says, context can be important.

 

[Scott DeWar]

A couple is two, a few is three, a handful is four or five, and several is six or more ... up to about ten when "many" takes over.

This about covers it - ish

 

[sabrinathecat]

Early accounting was "1, 2, many." This lead to problems, as "Many enemies are coming over the hill" could mean 4-5, or an army, thus the chief didn't know whether to arm a few soldiers to protect the tribe, or run for the hills. Thus the invention of "Smeg-loads." This was very helpful, and solved the problem for a while. Sadly, while the king might know that he had smeg-loads of wives, keeping track of which was where and such like became a more complicated matter. This lead to the invention of modern mathematics.

--not necessarily accurate history, paraphrased from "Red Dward: The Log"

 

[MarkB]

I generally think of "a few" as about 3-5, and "several" as anywhere from 6-10. Once you hit double figures, "several" doesn't seem to cut it anymore.