English

better

/ˈbɛt.ə/
Greater in amount or quantity

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    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).

    Etymology 2

    Shortening of had better ('d better).

    Etymology 3

    From Middle English beteren, from Old English beterian, betrian, from Proto-Germanic *batizōną. Cognate with West Frisian betterje (“to better”), Dutch beteren (“to better”), German bessern (“to better”), Danish bedre (“to better”), Swedish bättra (“to better”).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishbetter
      • inheritedOld Englishbetera “better”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*batiʀō
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*batizô “better”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishbeteren
      • inheritedOld Englishbeterian
        • inheritedProto-Germanic*batizōną

    Related: Dutch beter, German besser, da,nb bedre, Norwegian Nynorsk betre, Swedish bättre, fo,is betri, Sanskrit भ॒द्र, Icelandic batna, Persian بهتر, West Frisian betterje, Dutch beteren, German bessern, Danish bedre, Swedish bättra

    Words built on it: better known as

    Sources