ちょっと (a little, slightly)

The high-frequency adverb ちょっと, 'a little, slightly, briefly.' One of the workhorses of casual Japanese — softens verbs, downplays actions, hedges refusals (ちょっと... 'well, kind of...'), requests attention (ちょっと、すみません 'excuse me a sec'). Range from literal small-amount to discourse softener depending on context.