FromMiddle Englishfewere, equivalent tofew +-er.
fewer (superlativefewest)
- comparative degree offew; a smaller number.
Fewer women wear hats these days.
There arefewer tigers than there were a hundred years ago.
2001 September 27, Terrie E. Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi, Michael Rutter, Phil A. Silva,Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour: Conduct Disorder, Delinquency, and Violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study[1],Cambridge University Press,→ISBN, page151:This hypothesis goes by many names, including group resistence, the threshold effect, and the gender paradox. Because the hypothesis holds such wide appeal, it is worth revisiting the logic behind it. The hypothesis is built on the factual observation thatfewer females than males act antisocially.
Some[*] regard the use of the determinerless with countable quantities to be incorrect, stating thatless should indicate only a reduction in uncountable quantity, or in size or significance, leavingfewer to indicate a smaller numerical quantity. For example, they suggest sayingless sugar, butfewer people, notless 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 forfewer since it first appeared in Old English aslæs.
comparative offew; a smaller number
fēwer(Northumbrian)
- Alternative form offēower
