comparative

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin comparātīvus (“of or relating to comparison”),^[2][3][4][5] formed on comparātus, the past participle of comparō (“to compare, liken, pair, match”), with the suffix -īvus (-ive).^[2][6][5][7] Etymonline takes it through comparatif,^[8] and the OED compares the French word.^[2] Etymonline notes that Old English had rendered the Latin term with the loan translation wiþmetendlic.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In grammar, the form of an adjective or adverb that expresses a higher degree of a quality: 1447, in Osbern Bokenham's Lyvys of Seyntys.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid 15th century and notes that it was at first a grammatical term, applied to forms such as greater and stronger.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The general sense "estimated by comparison, relative" is recorded from 1597, in Francis Bacon,^[2][8] and "of or involving comparison" from 1602.^[2] From 1675, in a title by Nehemiah Grew, it named studies that compare several branches of a subject, as in comparative anatomy and comparative philology.^[2][8] From 1774 it often implied only a moderate or imperfect degree, as in comparative comfort.^[2] Shakespeare used it twice in Henry IV, Part 1 (1598) in a humorous sense, quick at making comparisons, as adjective and noun.^[2] The noun meant a rival or equal from c1470 to 1625,^[2][5] and has been the grammatical term for the comparative degree since 1530, in Palsgrave.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave "estimated by comparison; not positive; not absolute".^[9]

Timeline

• 1447 – (grammar) expressing a higher degree.^[2]
• c1470 – noun, a rival or equal (obsolete).^[2]
• 1530 – noun, the comparative degree.^[2]
• 1597 – estimated by comparison, relative.^[2]
• 1598 – quick at comparisons, in Shakespeare.^[2]
• 1602 – of or involving comparison.^[2]
• 1675 – of a study comparing branches of a subject.^[2]
• 1774 – moderate, in a lesser degree than usual.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Involving or based on comparison: a comparative study of two rural schools.
2. Measured or judged by comparison with something else; relative: After the storm the harbour was in comparative calm.
3. (grammar) Of the form of an adjective or adverb that expresses a greater degree, such as taller or more slowly.

Noun

1. (grammar) The comparative degree, or an adjective or adverb in it.

Word family

• comparatively
• comparativeness
• comparatist
• comparativist
• comparative linguistics
• comparative literature
• comparative method

Related words

• compare
• comparison
• comparable
• superlative
• positive

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.