different between little vs more

English

Etymology

From Middle English litel, from Old English l?tel, from Proto-Germanic *l?tilaz (“tending to stoop, crouched, little”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewd- (“to bend, bent, small”), equivalent to lout +? -le. Cognate with Dutch luttel, regional German lütt and lützel, West Frisian lyts, Low German lütt, Old High German luzzil, Middle High German lützel, Old English l?tan (“to bow, bend low”); and perhaps to Old English lytig (“deceitful, lot deceit”), Gothic ???????????????????? (liuts, “deceitful”), ???????????????????????? (lutjan, “to deceive”); compare also Icelandic lítill (“little”), Swedish liten, Danish liden, lille, Gothic ???????????????????????????? (leitils), which appear to have a different root vowel. More at lout.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l?t?l/, [?l?tl?], [?l?.t???]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?l?tl?/, [?l?.???], [???.??]
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?l?tl?/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?l?.???/
• Rhymes: -?t?l
• Hyphenation: lit?tle
• Homophone: Littell

Adjective

little (comparative less or lesser or littler, superlative least or littlest)

1. Small in size.

2. Insignificant, trivial.
   1. (offensive) Used to belittle a person.

3. Very young.

4. (of a sibling) Younger.

5. (also Little) 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.
   • 1871 October 18, The One-eyed Philosopher [pseudonym], "Street Corners", in Judy: or the London serio-comic journal, volume 9, page 255 [1]:

     If you want to find Little France, take any turning on the north side of Leicester square, and wander in a zigzag fashion Oxford Streetwards. The Little is rather smokier and more squalid than the Great France upon the other side of the Manche.

   • 2004, Barry Miles, Zappa: A Biography, 2005 edition, ?ISBN, page 5:

     In the forties, hurdy-gurdy men could still be heard in all those East Coast cities with strong Italian neighbourhoods: New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. A visit to Baltimore's Little Italy at that time was like a trip to Italy itself.

   • 2020, Richa Bhosale, "Croatian Hall in need of repairs to remain open," Timmins Daily Press:

     "The theatre was bought by the Croatian immigrants as so many immigrants came here in the ’30s and mostly for mining jobs, but in Schumacher itself it was called little Zagreb, and Zagreb is the capital city of Croatia. There were so many of them that they wanted to have their own little community, so they bought the theatre and they renovated it at that time, remodelled it and made it into a Croatian Hall," she explained.

6. Having few members.

7. Short in duration; brief.

   I feel better after my little sleep.

8. Small in extent of views or sympathies; narrow; shallow; contracted; mean; illiberal; ungenerous.

   • The long-necked geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise, / Because their natures are little.

   • 2001, Nicholas Petsalis-Diomidis, The Unknown Callas: the Greek Years, pg 547.

     Showing unmistakably what a little person he really was, in June 1949 he wrote his newly married daughter with nauseating disregard for the truth

Usage notes

Some authorities regard both littler and littlest as non-standard. The OED says of the word little: "the adjective has no recognized mode of comparison. The difficulty is commonly evaded by resort to a synonym (as smaller, smallest); some writers have ventured to employ the unrecognized forms littler, littlest, which are otherwise confined to dialect or imitations of childish or illiterate speech." The forms lesser and least are encountered in animal names such as lesser flamingo and least weasel.

Antonyms

• (small): large, big
• (young): big
• (younger): big

Derived terms

Translations

Adverb

little (comparative less or lesser, superlative least)

1. Not much.

   We slept very little last night.

   • Little disappointed, then, she turned attention to "Chat of the Social World," gossip which exercised potent fascination upon the girl's intelligence. She devoured with more avidity than she had her food those pretentiously phrased chronicles of the snobocracy […] distilling therefrom an acid envy that robbed her napoleon of all its savour.

2. Not at all.

Antonyms

• much

Translations

Determiner

little (comparative less, superlative least)

1. Not much, only a little: only a small amount (of).

   There is (very) little water left.

   We had very little to do.

Usage notes

• Little is used with uncountable nouns, few with plural countable nouns.
• Little can be used with or without an article. With the indefinite article, the emphasis is that there is indeed some, albeit not much:

We have a little money, so we'll probably get by.

With no article or the definite article (or what), the emphasis is on the scarcity:

We have little money, and little hope of getting more.

The little (or What little) money we have is all going to pay for food and medication, so we can't save any.

See also

• a little

Antonyms

• (not much): much

Translations

Pronoun

little

1. Not much; not a large amount.

   Little is known about his early life.

Noun

little (plural littles)

1. A small amount.

   Can I try a little of that sauce?

   Many littles make a mickle. (Scottish proverb)

   Little did he do to make me comfortable.

   If you want some cake, there's a little in the refrigerator

2. (BDSM, slang) The participant in ageplay who acts out the younger role.
3. (colloquial, college slang) A newly initiated member of a sorority.

Antonyms

• (BDSM): big

Derived terms

• little space

Related terms

• a little
• li'l, li'l', lil
• little by little
• little old
• belittle (cognate verb)

Anagrams

• tillet

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: mô, IPA^(key): /?m??/
• (General American) enPR: môr, IPA^(key): /?m??/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: m?r, IPA^(key): /?mo(?)?/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /?mo?/
• (non-rhotic, dough-door merger, AAVE) IPA^(key): /?mo?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophones: moor, Moor, Moore (all three only in accents with the pour–poor merger); maw (non-rhotic accents with the horse–hoarse merger); mow (non-rhotic accents with the dough-door merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English more, from Old English m?ra (“more”), from Proto-Germanic *maizô (“more”), from Proto-Indo-European *m?- (“many”).

Cognate with Scots mair (“more”), Saterland Frisian moor (“more”), West Frisian mear (“more”), Dutch meer (“more”), Low German mehr (“more”), German mehr (“more”), Danish mere (“more”), Swedish mera (“more”), Norwegian Bokmål mer (“more”), Norwegian Nynorsk meir (“more”), Icelandic meiri, meira (“more”).

Alternative forms

• (informal or nonstandard) mo, mo'
• (Internet slang) moar

Determiner

more

1. comparative degree of many: in greater number. (Used for a discrete quantity.)
3. comparative degree of much: in greater quantity, amount, or proportion. (Used for a continuous quantity.)
4. Additional; further.

   If you run out, there are more bandages in the first aid cupboard.

5. Bigger, stronger, or more valuable.

   He is more than the ten years he spent behind bars at our local prison, as he is a changed man and his past does not define him.

Antonyms

• fewer
• less

Derived terms

• more haste, less speed
• morefold
• moreness

Translations

Adverb

more (not comparable)

1. To a greater degree or extent. [from 10^thc.]
3. Used to form the comparative form of adjectives and adverbs. [from 13^thc.]
4. (now poetic) In negative constructions: any further, any longer; any more. [from 10^thc.]

   • Than was there pees betwyxte thys erle and thys Aguaurs, and grete surete that the erle sholde never warre agaynste hym more.

5. (now dialectal, humorous or proscribed) Used in addition to an inflected comparative form. [from 13^thc.; standard until 18^thc.]

Derived terms

• more or less
• more so

Translations

Pronoun

more

1. A greater number or quantity (of something).

   We're running out of napkins. I should have bought more.

   There isn't enough salt in this. You need to add more.

2. An extra or additional quantity (of something).

   There aren't many people here yet, but more should be arriving soon.

Derived terms

See also

• most

Etymology 2

From Middle English more, moore (“carrot, parsnip”) from Old English more, moru (“carrot, parsnip”) from Proto-West Germanic *morh?, from Proto-Germanic *murh? (“carrot”), from Proto-Indo-European *mork- (“edible herb, tuber”).

Akin to Old Saxon moraha (“carrot”), Old High German morha, moraha (“root of a plant or tree”) (German Möhre (“carrot”), Morchel (“mushroom, morel”)). More at morel.

Alternative forms

• moor (dialectal)

Noun

more (plural mores)

1. (obsolete) A carrot; a parsnip.
2. (dialectal) A root; stock.
3. A plant; flower; shrub.

Etymology 3

From Middle English moren, from the noun. See above.

Verb

more (third-person singular simple present mores, present participle moring, simple past and past participle mored)

1. (transitive) To root up.

Anagrams

• Mero, Omer, Orem, Orme, Rome, erom, mero, mero-, moer, omer

Afrikaans

Adverb

more

1. Alternative form of môre

Albanian

Alternative forms

• mor, ore

Etymology

According to Orel from the aoristic form of marr without a clear sense development. It could also be a remnant of a grammatical structure of a lost substrate language. It is the source of same interjection found in all Balkan languages.

Interjection

more

1. vocative particle used in a call to a man.

Usage notes

Can be placed before or after the noun, whereas bre can only be placed after.

Descendants

• ? Ottoman Turkish: ????? (more)

Related terms

• moj

References

Basque

Noun

more inan

1. purple

See also

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?mor?]

Noun

more

1. vocative singular of mor

Danish

Etymology

Derived from moro (“fun”), which may be a compound of mod, from Old Norse móðr (“mind”) and ro, from ró (“rest”).

Verb

more (imperative mor, infinitive at more, present tense morer, past tense morede, perfect tense har moret)

1. To amuse, entertain

Derived terms

• morskab c
• morsom
• morsomhed c

Dutch

Etymology

From Latin mora.

Pronunciation

Noun

more m or f (plural moren, diminutive moretje n)

1. The unit of length (short or long) in poetic metre

Anagrams

• moer, roem, Rome

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m??/
• Homophones: maure, maures, mores, mort, morts

Noun

more f (plural mores)

1. (phonology) mora

Adjective

more (plural mores)

1. (dated) Alternative spelling of maure

Related terms

• More m

Anagrams

• orme
• Rome

Further reading

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

Italian

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?re

Noun

more f

1. plural of mora

Verb

more

1. (slang) third-person singular indicative present of morire

Synonyms

• muore

Anagrams

• mero
• orme
• remo, Remo, remò
• Rome

Latin

Noun

m?re

1. ablative singular of m?s

References

• more in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Latvian

Noun

more f (5 declension, masculine form: moris)

1. (archaic) black woman, blackamoor, black moor

Declension

Maori

Noun

more

1. taproot

Synonyms

• t?more

Middle English

Alternative forms

• mare

Etymology

From Old English m?ra.

Determiner

more

1. more

Descendants

• English: more
• Scots: mair

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

more (present tense morer, past tense mora or moret, past participle mora or moret)

1. amuse, entertain

Old English

Alternative forms

• m?ru

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *morh?, from Proto-Germanic *murh? (“carrot”). Cognate with Old Saxon moraha (“carrot”), Old High German moraha (German Möhre).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mo?.re/

Noun

m?re f

1. carrot
2. parsnip

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: more
  • English: more
• ? Welsh: moron

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?m?.?i/
  • (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /?m?.?e/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?m?.??/

Verb

more

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of morar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of morar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of morar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of morar

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mô?re/
• Hyphenation: mo?re

Etymology 1

From Proto-Slavic *mo?e, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.

Noun

m?re n (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. sea
2. (by extension, preceded by preposition na) seaside or shore (any area or place near the sea where the sea is seen as the defining feature)

3. (figuratively) a vast expanse or quantity of something, usually detrimental or unwelcome

Declension

Synonyms

• (Croatia, archaic) morje

Derived terms

• mòrsk?

See also

• Category:sh:Seas

Etymology 2

From Greek ???? (moré).

Interjection

m?re (Cyrillic spelling ?????)

1. (Croatia, Kajkavian, colloquial) Alternative form of može
2. (Serbia) when spoken sharply, asserts that the speaker is stronger or older or more powerful than the addressee, sometimes expressing contempt or superiority
   • 1824, recorded by Vuk Stefanovi? Karadži?, Narodne srpske pjesme:

     »More, Marko, ne ori drumova!« / »More, Turci, ne gaz’te oranja!«

     »More, Marko, don’t plow up our roads!« / »More, Turks, don’t walk on my plowing!«

3. (Serbia) when not spoken sharply, functions as a term of endearment or generic intensifier, cf. bre

Usage notes

More is most often used in addressing a single male, more rarely when addressing groups of males, and more rarely still when addressing females.

Related terms

• bre

References

• Tomislav Mareti?, editor (1911-1916) , “m?re 1”, in Rje?nik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (in Serbo-Croatian), volume 7, Zagreb: JAZU, page 4

Noun

more (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. inflection of mora:
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Verb

more (Cyrillic spelling ????)

1. third-person plural present of moriti

Slovak

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *mo?e, from Proto-Indo-European *móri.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?r?/

Noun

more n (genitive singular mora, nominative plural moria, genitive plural morí, declension pattern of srdce)

1. A body of salt water, sea.
2. (colloquial) A huge amount, plenty (+genitive)

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• more in Slovak dictionaries at korpus.sk

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mo?e/, [?mo.?e]

Verb

more

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of morar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of morar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of morar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of morar.

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) (standard) (colloquial) IPA^(key): /?m?r?/
  • (North Wales) (colloquial) IPA^(key): /?m?ra/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /?mo?r?/, /?m?r?/

Noun

more

1. Nasal mutation of bore (“morning”).

Mutation