det · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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US:/ˈfjuː.ɚ/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -uːə(ɹ)
CMU ARPABET:F Y UW1 ER0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
det
Meaning 1
comparative degree of few; a smaller number.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: comparative, form-of
Examples
Fewer women wear hats these days.
There are fewer tigers than there were a hundred years ago.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
det
Meaning 2
Less; a smaller amount of something non-integral commonly expressed as an integer
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: hypercorrect
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
adjective
Meaning 3
(comparative of `few' used with count nouns) quantifier meaning a smaller number of
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
fewer birds came this year
the birds are fewer this year
fewer trains were late
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: more(a)
History
Etymology
From Middle English fewere, equivalent to few + -er.
Across languages
Translations
30 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Arabic:
أَقَلّ
(ʔaqall)
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Azerbaijani:
daha az
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Catalan:
menys
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Chinese Mandarin:
較少 /较少
(jiào shǎo)
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Chinese Mandarin:
更少
(gèng shǎo)
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Chinese Mandarin:
少
(shǎo)
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Danish:
færre
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Dutch:
minder
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Finnish:
harvempi
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Finnish:
vähemmän
— comparative of few; a smaller number
French:
moins (de)
— comparative of few; a smaller number
German:
weniger
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Gothic:
𐍆𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌶𐌰
(fawiza)
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Ancient Greek:
ἐλάσσων
(elássōn)
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Hebrew:
פחות
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Hungarian:
kevesebb
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Irish:
lú
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Italian:
meno
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Latin:
paucior
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Māori:
iti iho
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Middle English:
les
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Middle English:
fewere
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Norwegian:
færre
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Polish:
mniej
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Portuguese:
menos
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Russian:
ме́ньше
(ménʹše)
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Spanish:
menos
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Swedish:
färre
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Ukrainian:
ме́ньше
(ménʹše)
— comparative of few; a smaller number
Welsh:
llai
— comparative of few; a smaller number
