than - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

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

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

than

  1. Used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison.
    • 2013 July 20, “Old Soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.
    • 1665, Edward Stillingfleet, William Laud, Thomas Carwell, A Rational Account of the Grounds of Protestant Religion:
      Answer me if you can, any other way, than because the Scriptures, which are infallible, Say so.
      she's taller than I am; she found his advice more witty than helpful; we have less work today than we had yesterday; We had no choice than to return home
  2. (obsolete outside dialects, usually used with for) Because; for.
    • 1854, Reformation series:
      If thou say yes, then puttest thou on Christ (that is, the wisdome of God, the Father) unkunning, unpower, or euil will: for than he could not make his rule so good as an other did his.
    • 1668, William Lawson, A Way to Get Wealth:
      You shall also take the fine earth or mould which is found in the hollow of old Willow trees, rising from the root almost to the middle of the Tree, at least so far as the tree is hollow, for than this, there is no earth or mould finer or richer.

than

  1. introduces a comparison, and is associated with comparatives, and with words such as more, less, and fewer. Typically, it seeks to measure the force of an adjective or similar description between two predicates.
    Patients diagnosed more recently are probably surviving an average of longer than two years.
    No player is more skillful than Greg.

Usage prescriptivists have a number of rules concerning than. According to them, than is not a preposition to govern the oblique case (although it has been used as such by writers such as William Shakespeare, whose 1600 play Julius Caesar contains the line A man no mightier than thyself or me. . ., and Samuel Johnson, who wrote No man had ever more discernment than him, in finding out the ridiculous.). Than functions as both conjunction and preposition; when it is used as a conjunction, it governs the nominative case, and when a preposition, the oblique case. To determine the case of a pronoun following "than", a writer can look to implied words and determine how they would relate to the pronoun.

Examples :

Some prescriptivists insist that whom must follow than (not who); although according to the above rule, who would be the "correct" form in the first example. Critics of this often cite this mandatory exception as evidence that the prescriptivist rule is logically erroneous, in addition to its being inconsistent with well-established usage.

Introduces a comparison

than (not comparable)

  1. (now chiefly dialectal or a misspelling) At that time; then.

Inherited from Proto-Chamic *dhaːn, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *daqan (“branch, bough”).

than

  1. branch

than

  1. Aspirate mutation of tan.

Inherited from Proto-Chamic *dhaːn, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *daqan (“branch, bough”).

than

  1. branch

Inherited from Proto-Chamic *dhaːn, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *daqan (“branch, bough”).

than

  1. branch

From Old English þonne.

than

  1. than

than

  1. then
    • 14th Century, Chaucer, General Prologue
      And whan that he wel dronken hadde the wyn,
      Than wolde he speke no word but Latyn.
      And when he had drunk all the wine
      He would not speak a word other than Latin

From Proto-West Germanic *þan

than

  1. then

From Proto-West Germanic *þan

than

  1. then, there, when, at that time

than

  1. from there, therefore, if, because, after
  2. than, (comparative)
  3. Braune, Wilhelm. Althochdeutsches Lesebuch, zusammengestellt und mit Glossar versehen

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 炭 (“coal”, SV: thán).

than • (炭, 炮)

  1. coal
    than củi ― charcoal

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 嘆 (SV: thán).

than

  1. to complain

than

  1. Aspirate mutation of tan.

From Middle English than, from Old English þonne.

than

  1. then
    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 5, page 86:
      Zitch vezzeen, tarvizzeen, 'tell than w'ne'er zey.
      Such driving, and struggling, 'till then we ne'er saw.
    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 8, page 86:
      Than caame ee shullereen, ee teap an corkite;
      Then came the shouldering, tossing, and tumbling;
    • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 12, page 88:
      Than stalket, an gandelt, wie o! an gridane.
      Then stalked and wondered, with oh! and with grief.

than

  1. than
    • 1867, “THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 4, page 96:
      An neeat wooden trenshoorès var whiter than snow.
      And neat wooden trenchers far whiter than snow.