FromMiddle Englishbetter,bettre,betre, fromOld Englishbetera(“better”), fromProto-West Germanic*batiʀō, fromProto-Germanic*batizô(“better”), fromProto-Indo-European*bʰed-rós, from*bʰed-(“good”).
Cognate withSanskritभद्र(bhadrá,“blessed, fortunate, happy, good”) (from*bʰn̥d-ró-s). For Germanic cognates: see Proto-Germanic*batizô. Related tobest andbattle(“getting better, improving, fruitful, fertile”). Compare alsoIcelandicbatna(“to improve”),bót(“improvement”),Germanbesser. More atbatten,boot.
Persianبهتر(behtar) is afalse cognate.
better (positivegood,adverbwell,comparative (humorous)betterer,superlative (humorous)betterest,or (standard)best)
- comparative form ofgood: moregood
2002 November 1, “Shindig”, inFirefly, episode 4:Badger: You think you'rebetter than other people.
Mal: Just the ones I'mbetter than.
- comparative form ofwell: morewell
- Greater inamount orquantity
1972,Harvey Andrews,Hey Sandy:“The air was still with the lonely thrill of 'now the hour is near'
And the smell of sweat wasbetter yet than the awful stench of fear.”
- Greater orlesser (whichever is seen as more advantageous), in reference to value, distance, time, etc.
The top electric vehicles have a range of 300 kilometres orbetter.(better = greater)
Only one swimmer finished the race with a timebetter than two minutes.(better = lesser)
- Healed orrecovered from an injury or illness.
We can't go to the zoo today because you're sick; let's go when you're allbetter.
comparative of the adjectivesgood orwell
- Alviri-Vidari:
- Vidari:ودرتر(vaderter)
- Arabic:أَفْضَل(ʔafḍal),أَحْسَن(ʔaḥsan)
- Armenian:ավելիլավ(aveli lav)
- Assamese:-কৈ ভাল(-koi bhal)
- Asturian:meyor
- Basque:hobe
- Belarusian:ле́пшы(ljépšy)
- Bengali:আরওভাল(arō bhalo),আফজল (bn)(afjol)
- Breton:gwell (br),gwelloc'h (br)
- Bulgarian:по-добър(po-dobǎr)
- Catalan:millor (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin:更好(gèng hǎo),比較好的 /比较好的(bǐjiào hǎo de),較好的 /较好的(jiào hǎo de)
- Cornish:gwell
- Czech:lepší (cs)
- Danish:bedre
- Dutch:beter (nl)
- Esperanto:pli bona
- Estonian:parem
- Faroese:betri
- Finnish:parempi (fi)
- French:meilleur (fr)
- Friulian:miôr
- Galician:mellor (gl)
- Georgian:უკეთესი(uḳetesi),უმჯობესი(umǯobesi)
- German:besser (de)
- Gothic:𐌱𐌰𐍄𐌹𐌶𐌰(batiza)
- Greek:καλύτερος (el) m(kalýteros)
- Ancient:βελτίων(beltíōn),κρείσσων(kreíssōn),καλλίων(kallíōn),βέλτερος(bélteros)(Epic)
- Hindi:बेहतर (hi)(behtar)
- Hungarian:jobb (hu)
- Icelandic:betri (is)
- Ido:plu bona (io),maxim (io)
- Interlingua:melior
- Irish:níos fearr
- Italian:migliore (it),meglio (it)
- Jamaican Creole:beta
- Japanese:もっといい(motto ii),より良い(yoriyoi)
- Karelian:parempi
- Khiamniungan Naga:tǖmêi
- Korean:더좋은(deo jo'eun)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish:baştir (ku)
- Ladin:miec
- Latin:melior (la),potior
- Macedonian:подобар(podobar)
- Malay:lebih baik,lebih bagus
- Neapolitan:meglio
- Norman:miyeu
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål:bedre (no)
- Nynorsk:betre
- Occitan:melhor (oc)
- Old English:betera
- Pannonian Rusyn:лєпши(ljepši)
- Persian:بِهتَر (fa)(behtar),بختر(bextar)(dialectal)
- Plautdietsch:bäta
- Polish:lepszy (pl) m
- Portuguese:melhor (pt)
- Romani:feder
- Romanian:maibun,maibine
- Romansch:meglier
- Russian:лу́чше (ru)(lúčše),лу́чший (ru)(lúčšij)
- Sanskrit:श्रेयस् (sa)(śreyas)
- Sardinian:meglius,megnus,mellus
- Scottish Gaelic:nas fheàrr
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic:бо̏ље̄
- Roman:bȍljē (sh),bolji (sh) m
- Sicilian:megghiu (scn)
- Slovak:lepší
- Slovene:bóljši (sl)
- Spanish:mejor (es)
- Sranan Tongo:betre
- Swahili:bora (sw)
- Swedish:bättre (sv)
- Thai:ดีกว่า (th)
- Turkish:dahaiyi
- Ukrainian:кра́щий(kráščyj),лі́пший(lípšyj)
- Urdu:بہتر(behtar)
- Venetan:mejo
- Veps:paremba
- Vietnamese:tốt hơn,khá hơn;khoẻ hơn(comparative form of "well", as in "healthier")
- Volapük:gudikum
- Võro:parõmb
- Walloon:meyeu (wa)
- Welsh:gwell (cy)
- Yakut:бэт(bet)
- Yiddish:בעסער(beser)
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better
- comparative form ofwell: morewell
The engine runsbetter now that I've given it some oil.
c.1603–1604 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene iii]:I could neverbetter stead thee than now.[…]
comparative of the adverbwell
better (pluralbetters)
- Anentity, usuallyanimate,deemedsuperior to another; one who has a claim to precedence; a superior.
He quickly found Ali hisbetter in the ring.
Shortening ofhad better ('d better)
better
- (modal, auxiliary verb, colloquial)Had better.
It's getting late. Youbetter get on home.
- Better in this sense has often been considered an adverb. But it is virtually synonymous withshould in "We better be going." and withought to in "We better go."Should andought are auxiliary verbs.
FromMiddle Englishbeteren, fromOld Englishbeterian,betrian, fromProto-Germanic*batizōną. Cognate withWest Frisianbetterje(“to better”),Dutchbeteren(“to better”),Germanbessern(“to better”),Danishbedre(“to better”),Swedishbättra(“to better”).
better (third-person singular simple presentbetters,present participlebettering,simple past and past participlebettered)
- (transitive) Toimprove.
This government willbetter our society.
- (intransitive) To become better; to improve.
- (transitive) To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel.
1594–1597,Richard Hooker, edited byJ[ohn] S[penser],Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby[for Matthew Lownes], published1611,→OCLC,(please specify the page):The works of nature do always aim at that which can not bebettered.
- (transitive) To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of.
1667,John Milton, “Book VI”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC:Weapons more violent, when next we meet, / May serve tobetter us and worse our foes.
Alternative spelling ofbettor or modern formation from the verb tobet +-er.
better (pluralbetters)
- Alternative spelling ofbettor
FromOld High Germanbittar.
better (masculinebettere,femininebetter,comparativebetterer,superlativeetbetterste)
- (most dialects)bitter
- Proverb:Mösse es ebetter Krock. ―To be obliged is abitter herb.
better
- Alternative form ofbettre
better
- Alternative form ofbettre
better
- Alternative form ofbettre
better
- Alternative form ofbeteren
FromMiddle Englishbettre, fromOld Englishbetera.
better
- comparative degree ofguid
better (comparativemair better,superlativemaist better)
- better
- quiterecovered from illness
- more than
better (uncountable)
- that which is better, something better or superior
better (third-person singular simple presentbetters,present participlebetterin,simple pastbettert,past participlebettert)
- tobetter,improve
better
- inflection ofgoed:
- predicativecomparative degree
- indefiniteneutersingularcomparative degree
