contrast.pequeno-poco
Pequeño vs poco: small vs little
Pequeño/chico = small in size (una casa pequeña); poco = small in amount (poco tiempo, un poco de agua). English 'little' covers both; Spanish splits.
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Explicación
English 'little' is two ideas, and Spanish keeps them apart. Pequeño means small in size: una casa pequeña, un problema pequeño. In everyday Latin American speech chico is the usual word for this: un departamento chico, una porción chica. Poco means small in amount or degree: poco tiempo, poca gente.
Poco behaves as an adjective when it quantifies a noun (and then agrees: pocas opciones, pocos recursos) and as an adverb when it modifies a verb (duerme poco, come poco). Un poco (de) means 'a bit (of)': un poco de agua, esperá un poco.
Watch the polarity. Before an adjective, poco is negative — poco interesante means 'not very interesting' — whereas un poco is neutral-to-mild: un poco caro ('a bit expensive'). For smallness with affection, Spanish loves the diminutive: chiquito, pequeñito.
Ejemplos
The shop is small, but it gets a lot of traffic.
Región: global
There's little coffee left; buy a bit more.
Región: global
It's a small town with few people, but very pretty.