Other forms: lower, lowest
Low means close to the ground, or small in amount, or quiet in sound. A low wall, low prices, a low voice, low on petrol.
It is the opposite of high in every sense, and the pair moves together: high and low prices, a high and low note. Two things to watch. Low is both adjective and adverb without changing — fly low, speak low — and lowly is a separate adjective meaning humble, not the adverb of low. And feeling low means mildly depressed, which is a gentle and very common British way of saying it. The verb to lower is regular and does not exist as to low, which is what a cow does.
1adjectivelowClose to the ground; not high.
“There is a low wall along the whole front.”
2adjectivesmallSmall in amount or level.
“Prices are low at this time of year.”
3adjectivesoundOf a sound, quiet or deep.
“He said it in a low voice.”
4adjectivefeelingFeeling mildly depressed.
“She has been a bit low since Christmas.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
low is a position or level.
Low came into English from Old Norse lagr, replacing an older native word. It shares a root with lie, in the sense of lying down — a low thing is one that lies close to the ground, which is exactly the picture the word still gives.
Proto-Indo-European
*legʰ-
Middle English
lāh
English, today
low
Built from
From Middle English lāh. From Middle English lah, loue, from Old Norse lágr (“low”), from Proto-Germanic lēgaz (“low; flat”), from ligjaną (“to lie; to lead”), from Proto-Indo-European légʰyeti (“to be lying down”), from legʰ- (“to lie”). 2
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA