English Explanatory Dictionary

than

English dictionary entry

Meanings

conj
  1. Used in comparisons, to introduce the basis of comparison.
  2. Because; for.
prep
  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.
adv
  1. At that time; then.
name
  1. A surname.
  2. Thangadh, a town in the Indian state of Gujarat.
  3. A village in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

Pronunciation

thăn thĕn /ðæn/ /ðɛn/ En-us-than.ogg thən /ðən/ [ðn̩] En-us-than-unstressed.ogg

Word forms

than 'n thanne then Thans

Etymology

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.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on T Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary