English
less
Less comes from Old English lǣs ‘smaller, less’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *laisiz ‘smaller, lesser’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*laisiz1‘smaller, lesser’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150lǣs1‘smaller, less’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500les1
- Englishearliest quotation 1579less1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English less, which cites Kroonen
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1579, Lyly, Euphues: “I thinke there are few Vniuersities that haue lesse…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*laisizWiktionary, English less, which cites Kroonen‘smaller, lesser’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150lǣsWiktionary, English less, which cites Kroonen‘smaller, less’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lesWiktionary, English less, which cites Kroonen
- Englishearliest quotation 1579lessWiktionary, English less, which cites Kroonen. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1579, Lyly, Euphues: “I thinke there are few Vniuersities that haue lesse…”
The story
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).
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with less, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *leys- ‘to shrink, grow thin, be gentle’
through Old English lǣs ‘smaller, less’
- lease ← lese
8 more relatives in the full family tree
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Another origin of less
- Old Englishc. 450–1150lǣs
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lesse
- Englishtodayless
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Today it means
adv Used for constructing syntactic diminutive comparatives of adjectives and adverbs.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “less”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *laisiz / less