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PlainSpell

less

/lɛs/adverb, determiner, preposition, noun, conjunction, verb

less is spelled L-E-S-S: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 309 times per million words in written English, the 306th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, less means “Used for constructing syntactic diminutive comparatives of adjectives and adverbs” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in less?

Letters4: L-E-S-S
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing309 times per million words; the 306th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is less?

Less appears 309 times per million words in written English, the 306th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce less?

  • /lɛs/

Less has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-less.ogg, En-us-less.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl--less.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with less

Also written: let's.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of less

  • lesses present, singular, he/she/it
  • lessing participle, present
  • lessed participle, past
  • more -less comparative
  • most -less superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does less mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adverb

  1. 1

    comparative degree of little (a form of little)

    I slept even/much less last night than I did the night before.

  2. 2

    Used for constructing syntactic diminutive comparatives of adjectives and adverbs.

    Randal is less welcome than Rachel but as her spouse we should invite them both.

  3. 3

    To a smaller extent or degree.

    The grammar book was less than (that is, not at all) helpful.

determiner

  1. 1

    comparative form of little: more little; of inferior size, degree or extent; smaller, lesser. (a form of little)

  2. 2

    A smaller amount of; not as much.

    No less than eight pints of beer.

  3. 3

    proscribedFewer; a smaller number of.

    There are less people here now.

preposition

  1. 1

    Minus; not including

    It should then tax all of that as personal income, less the proportion of the car's annual mileage demonstrably clocked up on company business.

noun

  1. 1

    A smaller amount or quantity.

    Less is better.

conjunction

  1. 1

    nonstandardunless

noun

as LESs
  1. 1

    plural of LES (a form of LES)

verb

  1. 1

    archaicTo make less; to lessen.

  2. 2

    Alternative form of let's.

adjective

  1. 1

    archaicLesser; smaller.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Less in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchmoins (to a smaller extent or degree), sans ... (lacking)
Germanweniger (to a smaller extent or degree), -los (lacking), verringern, verkleinern (to make less)
Portuguesemenos (to a smaller extent or degree), sem, des- (lacking), exceto, fora (not including)
Spanishmenos, en menos (to a smaller extent or degree), sin, des- (lacking)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does less come from?

Adverb From Middle English les, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣs (“smaller, less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisiz, from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to shrink, grow thin, be gentle”). Cognate with Old Frisian lēs (“less”), Old Saxon lēs (“less”). According to Kroonen (2013), from a northern Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *leh₂is- or *leh₃is-, which he connects to Lithuanian liesas (“lean”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after less