rather
/ˈɹæðɚ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.32 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably, in preference to. (Now usually followed by than)
adv
adv
Introducing a qualification or clarification; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or.)
adv
Somewhat, quite; to an unexpected degree.
Example Sentences
- "I'd rather not have spent all the money, but it really was an emergency."
- "I would like this one rather than the other one."
- "I s'pose we'd better clean the kitchen, but we had much rather not do anything right now."
- "Tomorrow's impossible. We'd rather you came next weekend."
- "They'd rather've spent the money on a holiday."
- "Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants."
Etymology
From Middle English rather, from Old English hraþor, comparative of hraþe (“soon, early, fast”). More at rathe. Cognate with Dutch radder (“faster”), comparative of Dutch rad (“fast; quick”), German Low German radd, ratt (“rashly; quickly; hastily”), German gerade (“even; straight; direct”). By surface analysis, rathe + -er.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: rather, hraþor
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɹæðɚ/
- British English: /ˈɹɑː.ðə(ɹ)/