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Added 4 October 2026

less

/lɛs/ adverb

In Latin: minus Wiktionary

adverb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about less at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

comparative degree of little
I slept little last night, but even less the night before.
Used for constructing syntactic diminutive comparatives of adjectives and adverbs.
This gadget is less useful than I expected.
To a smaller extent or degree.
The grammar book was less than (that is, not at all) helpful.

determiner

comparative form of little: more little; of inferior size, degree or extent; smaller, lesser. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
A smaller amount of; not as much.
No less than eight pints of beer.
Fewer; a smaller number of.
There are less people here now.

preposition

Minus; not including
It should then tax all of that as personal income, less the proportion of the car's annual mileage demonstrably clocked up on company business.

verb

To make less; to lessen.

Origin

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”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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