less (2009-11-21)

Part of Speech: adjective

Pronunciation: ['les]

Definition: Not as much of something uncountable. Used with mass nouns only, as "less bread," "less thought, "less intelligence." If the object noun is countable, "fewer" should be used: "fewer people," "fewer hours, "fewer things." "Fewer" is the comparative of "few;" "less" is the comparative of "little."

Usage: Please don't complain that this word is too obvious to be the Word of the Day. I would conjecture that most U.S. English-speakers no longer use 'fewer' at all: "Little hope remains that 'judgement' will be spelled correctly in the near future but there is even less hope for the survival of 'fewer.' Sad but true: "Fewer and fewer people use 'fewer' and no one listens to the few who do."

Suggested Usage: How could such a small, simple word acquire the stature of the Word of the Day? It may be small but it is muscling "fewer" out of the English language. "Less" is so commonly misused as a substitute for "fewer" on US radio and TV, that I fear for the very life of "fewer." The rule for using "fewer" is simple: if the object of "less/fewer" is countable, "fewer" is required: "fewer errors mean less anxiety." "Fewer" is the comparative of "few." If we say "a few errors," to be consistent we should say "fewer errors." "Little" is used with nouns that cannot be counted, e.g. hope, life, risk; "less" should only be used with the same nouns that "little" modifies.

Etymology: From Old Germanic *laisiz, which turned up in Old English as læssa "less." It can be traced to very few languages outside the Germanic ones, though the Oxford English Dictionary mentions an old Lithuanian word, lësas "small." "Least" is, of course, "less" with the superlative suffix -est.