English

than

/ðæn/
Used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison.

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    Origin

    From Middle English than, thanne (“than; then”), from Old English þanne, a variant of þonne (“then; when; than”), from Proto-West Germanic *þannē, an alteration of *þan (“then; than”), from Proto-Germanic *þan (“then; than”), from earlier *þam, from Proto-Indo-European *tóm, accusative masculine of *só (“that”, demonstrative pronoun).

    Cognate with Dutch dan (“then; than”), German denn (“for; so”), German dann (“then”). Doublet of then.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishthan
      • inheritedOld Englishþanne
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*þannē
          • derivedProto-Germanic*þan “at that (time), then”
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*tóm

    Related: Dutch dan, German denn, German dann

    Words built on it: more-than

    Sources