better
[ˈbeɾ.ə]
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.76 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Greater or lesser (whichever is seen as more advantageous), in reference to value, distance, time, etc.
adv
comparative form of well: more well
Example Sentences
- "How are you? ~ A little better, thanks."
- "Badger: You think you're better than other people. Mal: Just the ones I'm better than."
- "“The air was still with the lonely thrill of 'now the hour is near' And the smell of sweat was better yet than the awful stench of fear.”"
- "The top electric vehicles have a range of 300 kilometres or better."
- "Only one swimmer finished the race with a time better than two minutes."
- "We can't go to the zoo today because you're sick; let's go when you're all better."
Etymology
From Middle English better, bettre, betre, from Old English betera (“better”), from Proto-West Germanic *batiʀō, from Proto-Germanic *batizô (“better”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰed-rós, from *bʰed- (“good”). Cognate with Dutch beter, German besser, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål bedre, Norwegian Nynorsk betre, Swedish bättre, Faroese and Icelandic betri. Also Sanskrit भ॒द्र (bhadrá, “blessed; fortunate; happy; good”) (from *bʰn̥d-ró-s). Related to best and battle (“getting better; improving; fruitful; fertile”). Compare also Icelandic batna (“to improve”), bót (“improvement”), German besser. More at batten, boot. False cognate of Persian بهتر (behtar).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: [ˈbeɾ.ə]
- British English: [ˈbɛtʰ.ə]