different between fewer vs lewer

English

Etymology

few +? -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fju??/

Determiner

fewer (superlative fewest)

1. comparative degree of few; a smaller number.

   Fewer women wear hats these days.

   There are fewer tigers than there were a hundred years ago.

Usage notes

Some^[*] regard the use of the determiner less with countable quantities to be incorrect, stating that less should indicate only a reduction in uncountable quantity, or in size or significance, leaving fewer to indicate a smaller numerical quantity. For example, they suggest saying less sugar, but fewer people, not less people. Such a rule can allow distinctions such as:

• Their troubles are fewer than ours, meaning "Their troubles are not so numerous as ours."
• Their troubles are less than ours, meaning "Their troubles are not so great as ours."

Nevertheless, less has been widely understood and commonly used as a synonym for fewer since it first appeared in Old English as læs.

Translations

See also

• less

English

Adjective

lewer

1. comparative form of lew: more lew

Anagrams

• Werle, rewle

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch lever, from Middle Dutch levere, from Old Dutch *livara, from Proto-Germanic *libr?, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to smudge, stick”), from *ley- (“to be slimy, be sticky, glide”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l???v?r/

Noun

lewer (plural lewers, diminutive lewertjie)

1. liver