different between less vs les

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Etymology 1

Adverb From Middle English les, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English l?s (“less, lest”), from Proto-Germanic *laisiz (“smaller, lesser, fewer, lower”), from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to shrink, grow thin, become small, be gentle”). Cognate with Old Frisian l?s (“less”), Old Saxon l?s (“less”).

Determiner and preposition from Middle English lees, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English l?ssa (“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.

Adverb

less (negative comparative)

1. comparative degree of little
2. Used for forming negative comparatives of adjectives, especially those that do not form the comparative by adding -er.
   • 1957, Lester Del Rey, Rockets Through Space: The Story of Man's Preparations to Explore the Universe:

     This section of space is much less empty than that between the stars, […]
3. To a smaller extent or degree.

Antonyms

• more

Translations

Determiner

less

1. (Now chiefly of numbers or dimensions) comparative form of little: more little; of inferior size, degree or extent; smaller, lesser. [from 11th c.]
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, page 141:

     Those Rattels are somewhat like the chape of a Rapier, but lesse, which they take from the taile of a snake.

   • 1711,The Spectator, no. 126:

     We are likewise ready to maintain with the hazard of all that is near and dear to us, that six is less than seven in all times and all places […] .
2. A smaller amount of; not as much. [from 12th c.]

3. (sometimes proscribed) Fewer; a smaller number of. [from 14th c.]
   • 1952, Thomas M Pryor, New York Times, 7 Sep 1952:

     This is not a happy situation as far as the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes is concerned because it means less jobs for the union's members here at home.

   • 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, page 555:

     No less than four standard-bearers went before them, carrying huge crimson banners emblazoned with the golden lion.

   • 2003, Timandra Harkness, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2003:

     Although my hosts, G S Aviation, can teach you to fly in Wiltshire, an intensive week at their French airfield means less problems with the weather, cheap but good living, and complete removal from any distractions.

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.

Antonyms

• more

Translations

See also

• fewer
• lesser

Preposition

less

1. Minus; not including

Antonyms

• plus

Translations

Verb

less (third-person singular simple present lesses, present participle lessing, simple past and past participle lessed)

1. (archaic) To make less; to lessen.
   • 1386-90, Gower, Confessio Amantis

     What he will make lesse, he lesseth.

   • c. 1650, Patrick Gordon of Ruthven, A short Abridgement of Britane's Distemper, from the yeares of God 1639 to 1649, printed 1844 for the Spalding Club

     Som of the wiser sort, divining upon this vission, attrebute to the pen-knyves the lenth of tym before this should com to pass, and it hath been observed by sindrie that the earles of that hous befor wer the richest in the kingdom, having treasure and store besyde them, but ever since the addittion of this so great a revenue, they have lessed the stock by heavie burdens of debt and ingagment.

   • 1816, "Joseph Wharton" [obituary notice], Poulson's Advertiser, quoted in Genealogy of the Wharton Family of Philadelphia: 1664 to 1880, Anne Hollingsworth Wharton (1880)

     The protracted term of life, and the lingering illness through which this gentleman had passed, had neither impaired the original vigour of his mind, nor lessed the uncommon warmth of his affections.

Translations

Derived terms

Noun

less (uncountable)

1. A smaller amount or quantity.

Etymology 2

From Middle English lesse, les, from Old English l?s, as in þ? l?s þe.

Conjunction

less

1. (obsolete) unless
   • 1614, Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair

     To tell you true, 'tis too good for you, 'less you had grace to follow it

References

• less at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “less”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “less”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• ELSS, SLEs

Hungarian

Etymology

les +? -j

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l???]
• Hyphenation: less
• Rhymes: -???

Verb

less

1. second-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of les

Lombard

Etymology

From Latin elixus. Compare Italian lesso (“boiled meat”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?s?/

Noun

less m (invariable)

1. boiled meat

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse látast.

Verb

less (present tense less, past tense less)

1. to pretend (to be)

Etymology 2

Verb

less

1. imperative of lesse

References

• “less” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Verb

less

1. imperative of lessa

Etymology 2

Verb

less

1. (non-standard since 2012) past tense of låss

Polish

Etymology

From German Löss.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?s/

Noun

less m inan

1. (geology) loess

Declension

Derived terms

• (adjective) lessowy

Further reading

• less in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• less in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Swedish

Etymology

Clipping of lessen, pronunciation spelling of ledsen (“sad”), alternatively interpreted as a pronunciation spelling of a clipping of ledsen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?s?/

Adjective

less (comparative mer less, superlative mest less)

1. fed up, done

Declension

Only used with the common gender singular, comparated periphrastically, only used predicatively.

English

Alternative forms

• lez

Pronunciation

• (UK, US), IPA^(key): /l?z/
• Rhymes: -?z

Noun

les (plural leses)

1. (slang, colloquial) Clipping of lesbian.

Adjective

les (comparative more les, superlative most les)

1. (slang, colloquial) Clipping of lesbian.

Anagrams

• ELs, ESL, LSE, SLE, els

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch les (“lesson”), from Middle Dutch lesse, from Latin l?cti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?s/

Noun

les (plural lesse, diminutive lesje)

1. lesson

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin ille (“that one”).

Pronoun

les

1. them (indirect object)

Synonyms

• lis

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin illas.

Article

les f pl (masculine sg el, feminine sg la, neuter sg lo, masculine plural los)

1. (definite) the

Catalan

Etymology 1

From Latin ill?s, from ille.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /l?s/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /les/
• Rhymes: -es

Article

les f pl (masculine plural els, masculine singular el, feminine singular la)

1. the; feminine plural definite article

Pronoun

les (enclitic and proclitic)

1. them (feminine, direct object)

Declension

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin laesus.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /?l?s/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /?l?s/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /?les/

Adjective

les (feminine lesa, masculine plural lesos, feminine plural leses)

1. (law) harmed

Derived terms

• crim de lesa humanitat

Related terms

• il·lès

Further reading

• “les” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Czech

Etymology

From Old Czech les, from Proto-Slavic *l?s?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?s]
• Hyphenation: les
• Rhymes: -?s
• Homophone: lez

Noun

les m inan

1. forest

Declension

Synonyms

• hvozd

Related terms

• lesní
• lesník
• jak se do lesa volá, tak se z lesa ozývá

Further reading

• les in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• les in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Noun

les c

1. indefinite genitive singular of le

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?s/
• Rhymes: -?s

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch lesse, from Latin l?cti?.

Noun

les f (plural lessen, diminutive lesje n)

1. course, lesson

Derived terms

• gymles
• gymnastiekles
• lesgeven
• lesplan
• lesrooster
• lessen
• paardrijles
• rijles
• zangles
• zwemles

Descendants

• Afrikaans: les
• ? Indonesian: les

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

les

1. first-person singular present indicative of lessen
2. imperative of lessen

Anagrams

• els

French

Etymology

From Middle French les, from Old French les, from Latin ill?s m and ill?s f which are the accusative plurals of ille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le/
• Homophones: lé, lés

Article

les

1. plural of le: the
2. plural of la: the

Usage notes

• de les is never used: contracted into des.
• à les is never used: contracted into aux.

Pronoun

les ?

1. plural of le: them
2. plural of la: them

Related terms

References

Further reading

• “les” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• sel

Galician

Verb

les

1. second-person singular present indicative of ler

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le?s/

Verb

les

1. (colloquial) first-person singular present of lesen
2. (colloquial) singular imperative of lesen

Hungarian

Etymology

From Proto-Ugric *lä?? (“hiding place; lurk”). Cognates include Southern Mansi [script needed] (l?š-), Northern Mansi [script needed] (l??-).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l??]
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

les (plural lesek)

2. cover, hideaway, ambush (the place where one is concealed, in wait to attack by surprise, or the act of concealing oneself there)

   Synonyms: lesállás, leshely

   Hypernyms: búvóhely, rejtekhely, (hiding place in general) rejtek

3. (hunting) hide, blind
4. (soccer) offside

   Synonyms: lesállás, leshelyzet

Declension

Verb

les

2. (transitive) to spy, peep, peek
3. (transitive) to stare, goggle, eye
4. (transitive) to cheat at a test by looking at someone else's work

Conjugation

Derived terms

(With verbal prefixes):

References

Further reading

• (ambush): les in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN
• (to spy): les in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l??s/
• Rhymes: -??s

Noun

les n (genitive singular less, nominative plural les)

1. (linguistics) lexeme (set of inflected forms taken by a single word)
2. (computing) lexeme (individual instance of a continuous character sequence without spaces, used in lexical analysis)

Declension

Synonyms

• (lexeme): flettiorð

Derived terms

• lesgreining
• lesgreinir

See also

• tóki

Verb

les

1. first-person singular of lesa (“to read”)

   Ég les mikið af þýskum bókum.

   I read a lot of German books.

2. third-person singular of lesa (“to read”)

   Pálmi les alltaf sömu söguna, þótt hann eigi margar bækur.

   Pálmi always reads the same story, even though he has many books.

Indonesian

Etymology 1

From Dutch les (“course, lesson”), from Middle Dutch lesse, from Latin l?cti?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?s]
• Hyphenation: lès

Noun

lès (first-person possessive lesku, second-person possessive lesmu, third-person possessive lesnya)

1. (education, colloquial) cram school, private tuition.

Verb

lès

1. (education, colloquial) to cram, to study hard, to learn at cram school.

Etymology 2

From Dutch lis (“reed”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?s]
• Hyphenation: lès

Noun

lès (first-person possessive lesku, second-person possessive lesmu, third-person possessive lesnya)

1. rein.

Further reading

• “les” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Interlingua

Pronoun

les

1. (dative) to them

Usage notes

• Precedes conjugated verbs.
• Can be of mixed gender (not just masculine).

Ladin

Etymology

From Latin illas.

Article

les f (plural)

1. the

See also

• l
• la, l'
• i

Middle English

Alternative forms

• lese, lees, leas, leasse

Etymology

From Old English l?as (“false, void, loose”).

Cognate with Middle High German l?s (“loose”), Old Swedish lø?s (“loose”); a doublet of loos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l??s/

Adjective

les

1. false; lying; deceptive

Noun

les (uncountable)

1. falsehood; a lie

Middle French

Etymology

from Old French les, from Latin ill?s m and ill?s f

Article

les m pl or f pl (masculine singular le, feminine singular la)

1. the

Descendants

• French: les

Norman

Pronunciation

Article

les pl (singular lé, and la)

1. Alternative form of l's

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

les

1. imperative of lese

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

les

1. present tense of lesa
2. imperative of lesa

Old Czech

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *l?s?.

Noun

les m

1. forest

   Synonym: hvozd

Declension

Descendants

• Czech: les

Further reading

• “les”, in Vokabulá? webový: webové hnízdo pramen? k poznání historické ?eštiny [online]?^[2], Praha: Ústav pro jazyk ?eský AV ?R, 2006–2020

Old French

Etymology

From Latin illas and illos.

Article

les

1. the (feminine plural oblique definite article)
2. the (feminine plural nominative definite article)
3. the (masculine plural oblique definite article)

Inflection

Descendants

• Middle French: les
  • French: les

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?es?/

Pronoun

les

1. third-person singular masculine of la

Rohingya

Etymology

From Bengali.

Noun

les

1. tail

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lê?s/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *l?s? (“tree, forest”).

Alternative forms

• (Ijekavian) lij?s

Noun

l?s m (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. coffin
2. (regionally) lumber
3. (regionally) forest, woods

Declension

Etymology 2

From German Löss.

Noun

l?s m (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. (geology) loess

Slovak

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *l?s?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?s/

Noun

les m (genitive singular lesa, nominative plural lesy, genitive plural lesov, declension pattern of dub)

1. forest

Declension

Further reading

• les in Slovak dictionaries at slovnik.juls.savba.sk

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *l?s?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lé?s/

Noun

l??s m inan

1. wood

Inflection

Further reading

• “les”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?les/, [?les]

Etymology 1

From Latin ill?s, dative plural of ille.

Pronoun

les

1. dative of ellos and ellas; to them, for them
2. dative of ustedes; to you all, for you all (formal)

See also

Etymology 2

Gender-neutral e replaces the gendered endings/elements a and o.

Article

les m pl or f pl

1. (gender-neutral, neologism) the

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English lazy.

Adjective

les

1. lazy
2. tired, fed up

Verb

les

1. be lazy
2.  be tired, be fed up

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /le?s/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English lace.

Noun

les f (plural lesau, not mutable)

1. lace (light fabric patterned with holes)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English lease.

Noun

les f (plural lesoedd, not mutable)

1. lease

Derived terms

• lesddeiliad (“leaseholder”)

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present) , “les”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies