Meaning

noun the slender part of the back

noun a garment size for a small person

adjective limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent

originFrom Middle English smal, smale, small, smalle, smel, smæl, from Old English smæl (“narrow, slim; slender; fine; small; quiet”), from Proto-West Germanic *smal, from Proto-Germanic *smalaz (“small”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mal- (“small; little”). Cognates Cognate with Scots smaw (“small; minor”), Yola smaale, small (“small”), North Frisian smaal, smeel, smääl (“narrow”), Saterland Frisian…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0