less

Meaning

Frequency

A2
Pronounced as (IPA)
/lɛs/
Etymology

Adverb From Middle English les, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣs (“smaller, less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisiz, from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to shrink, grow thin, be gentle”). Cognate with Old Frisian lēs (“less”), Old Saxon lēs (“less”). According to Kroonen (2013), from a northern Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *leh₂is- or *leh₃is-, which he connects to Lithuanian liesas (“lean”). Determiner and preposition from Middle English lees, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣssa (“less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisizan-, from Proto-Germanic *laisiz (“smaller, lesser, fewer, lower”) (see above). Cognate with Old Frisian lessa (“less”). Verb from Middle English lessen, from the determiner. Noun from Middle English lesse, from the determiner.

New
little

<tabs><tab title="Adj"><p><ol><li>Small in size.</li><li>Small in size.</li><li>Insignificant, trivial.</li><li>Insignificant, trivial.</li><li>Very young, of childhood age.</li><li>Younger.</li><li>Used with the name of a place, especially of a country or its capital, to denote a neighborhood whose residents or storekeepers are from that place.</li><li>Used with the name of a place, especially of a country or its capital, to denote a neighborhood whose residents or storekeepers are from that place.</li><li>Having few members.</li><li>Operating on a small scale.</li><li>Short in duration; brief.</li><li>Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow, shallow, contracted; mean, illiberal, ungenerous.</li></ol></p></tab><tab title="Adv"><p><ol><li>Not much.</li><li>Not at all.</li></ol></p></tab><tab title="Det"><p>Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).</p></tab><tab title="Pron"><p>Not much; not a large amount.</p></tab><tab title="Noun"><p><ol><li>A small amount.</li><li>(informal) A child, particularly an infant.</li><li>An adult in a child-like role, or in the more junior of two paired roles.</li><li>An adult in a child-like role, or in the more junior of two paired roles.</li><li>An adult in a child-like role, or in the more junior of two paired roles.</li><li>Short for little go (“type of examination”).</li></ol></p></tab></tabs>

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