Comparison is a feature in the

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

of some

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

s whereby

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...

s and

adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...

s are

inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defini ...

to indicate the relative degree of the property they define exhibited by the word or phrase they modify or describe. In languages that have it, the

comparative In general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as wel ...

construction expresses quality, quantity, or degree relative to ''some'' other comparator(s). The superlative construction expresses the greatest quality, quantity, or degree—i.e. relative to ''all'' other comparators. The associated

grammatical category In linguistics, a grammatical category or grammatical feature is a property of items within the grammar of a language. Within each category there are two or more possible values (sometimes called grammemes), which are normally mutually exclusive ...

is degree of comparison. The usual degrees of comparison are the ''positive'', which simply denotes a property (as with the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

words ''big'' and ''fully''); the ''comparative'', which indicates ''greater'' degree (as ''bigger'' and ''more fully''); and the ''superlative'', which indicates ''greatest'' degree (as ''biggest'' and ''most fully''). Some languages have forms indicating a very large degree of a particular quality (called ''elative'' in Semitic linguistics). Other languages (e.g. English) can express lesser degree, e.g. ''beautiful'', ''less beautiful'', ''least beautiful''. The comparative degrees are frequently associated with adjectives and adverbs because these words take the ''-er'' suffix or modifying word ''more'' or ''less.'' (e.g., ''faster'', ''more intelligent'', ''less wasteful''). Comparison can also, however, appear when no adjective or adverb is present, for instance with nouns (e.g., ''more men than women''). However, the usage of the word ''than'' between nouns simply denotes a comparison made and not degree of comparison comparing the intensity or the extent of the subjects. One

preposition Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...

, ''near'', also has comparative and superlative forms, as in ''Find the restaurant nearest your house''.

Formation of comparatives and superlatives

Comparatives and superlatives may be formed in

by inflection, as with the English and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

''-er'' and ''-(e)st'' forms and Latin's ''-ior'' (superior,

excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

), or

syntactically In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

, as with the English ''more...'' and ''most...'' and the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

''plus...'' and ''le plus...'' forms. Common adjectives and adverbs often produce irregular forms, such as ''better'' and ''best'' (from ''good'') and ''less'' and ''least'' (from ''little/few'') in English, and ''meilleur'' (from ''bon'') and ''mieux'' (from the adverb ''bien'') in French.

Comparative and superlative constructions

Most if not all languages have some means of forming the comparative, although these means can vary significantly from one language to the next. Comparatives are often used with a

conjunction Conjunction may refer to: * Conjunction (grammar), a part of speech * Logical conjunction, a mathematical operator ** Conjunction introduction, a rule of inference of propositional logic * Conjunction (astronomy), in which two astronomical bodies ...

or other grammatical means to indicate to what the comparison is being made, as with ''than'' in English, ''als'' in German, etc. In

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and Greek (

Ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

Koine Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

and

Modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

), this can be done by placing the compared noun in the

genitive In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

case. With superlatives, the population being considered may be explicitly indicated, as in "the best swimmer out of all the girls". Languages also possess other structures for comparing adjectives and adverbs, such as "as... as" in English. А few languages apply comparison to nouns and even verbs. One such language is

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

, where expressions like "по̀ човек (po chovek), най човек (nay chovek), по-малко човек (po malko chovek)" (literally ''more person'', ''most person'', ''less person'' but normally ''better kind of a person'', ''best kind of person'', ''not that good kind of a person'') and "по̀ обичам (po obicham), най-малко обичам (nay malko obicham)" (''I like more'', ''I like the least'') are quite usual.

Usage when considering only two things

In many languages, including English, traditional grammar requires the comparative form to be used when exactly two things are being considered, even in constructions where the superlative would be used when considering a larger number. For instance, "May the better man win" would be considered correct if there are only two individuals competing. However, this rule is not always observed in informal usage; the form "May the best man win" will often be used in that situation, as is required if there were three or more competitors involved. However, in some cases when two subjects with equal qualities are compared, usage of superlative degree is not possible. For example, "Ram is as good as Shyam"—positive degree; "Ram is not better than Shyam"—comparative degree. Since Ram and Shyam are equally good, neither is superior which negates the usage of the superlative.

Rhetorical use of unbalanced comparatives

In some contexts such as advertising or political speeches, absolute and relative comparatives are intentionally employed in ways that invite comparison, yet the basis of comparison is not explicit. This is a common

rhetorical Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

device used to create an implication of significance where one may not actually be present. Although common, such usage is sometimes considered ungrammatical. For example: * Why pay more? * We work harder. * We sell for less! * More doctors recommend it.

Usage in languages

Indo-European languages

Germanic languages

=English

= English has two grammatical constructions for expressing comparison: a morphological one formed using the suffixes ''-er'' (the "comparative") and ''-est'' (the "superlative"), with some irregular forms, and a syntactic one using the adverbs "more", "most", "less" and "least". As a general rule, words of one

syllable A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological "bu ...

require the suffix (except for a few words such as ''fun'', ''real'', ''right'', ''wrong''), while words of three or more syllables require "more" or "most". This leaves words of two syllables—these are idiomatic, some requiring the morphological construction, some requiring the syntactic and some able to use either (e.g., ''polite'' can use ''politer'' or ''more polite''), with different frequencies according to context. Morphological comparison The

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

es ''-er'' (the "comparative") and ''-est'' (the "superlative") are of Germanic origin and are

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymology, etymological ancestor in a proto-language, common parent language. Because language c ...

with the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

suffixes -''ior'' and -''issimus'' and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

-''ῑ́ων'' : -''īōn'' and -''ῐστος'' : -''istos''. They are typically added to shorter words, words of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

origin, and borrowed words fully assimilated into English vocabulary. Usually the words taking these

inflection In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and defin ...

s have fewer than three syllables. This system also contains a number of irregular forms, some of which, like "good", "better", and "best", contain

suppletive In linguistics and etymology, suppletion is traditionally understood as the use of one word as the inflected form of another word when the two words are not cognate. For those learning a language, suppletive forms will be seen as "irregular" or even ...

forms. These irregular forms include: Syntactic comparison In syntactic construction, inserting the words "more" or "most" before an adjective or adverb modifies the resulting phrase to express a relative (specifically, greater) degree of that property. Similarly, inserting the

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

s "less" or "least" before an adjective or adverb expresses a lesser degree. This system is most commonly used with words of French or Latin derivation; with adjectives and adverbs formed with suffixes other than ''-ly'' (e.g., "beautiful"); and with longer, technical, or infrequent words. For example: Absolute adjectives Some adjectives' (the absolute adjectives) meanings are not exhibitable in degrees, making comparative constructions of them inappropriate. Some qualities are either ''present or'' ''absent'' such as being ''cretaceous'' vs. ''igneous'', so it appears illogical to call anything "very cretaceous", or to characterize something as "more igneous" than something else. Some grammarians object to the use of the superlative or comparative with words such as ''full'', ''complete'', ''unique'', or ''empty'', which by definition already denote a totality, an absence, or an absolute. However, such words are routinely and frequently qualified in contemporary speech and writing. This type of usage conveys more of a figurative than a literal meaning, because in a strictly literal sense, something cannot be more or less unique or empty to a greater or lesser degree. Many

prescriptive grammar Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes info ...

s and

style guides A style guide or manual of style is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. It is often called a style sheet, although that term also has multiple other meanings. The standards can be applied either for gener ...

include adjectives for inherently superlative qualities to be non-gradable. Thus, they reject expressions such as ''more perfect'', ''most unique'', and ''most parallel'' as illogical

pleonasm Pleonasm (; , ) is redundancy in linguistic expression, such as "black darkness" or "burning fire". It is a manifestation of tautology by traditional rhetorical criteria and might be considered a fault of style. Pleonasm may also be used for em ...

s: after all, if something is unique, it is one of a kind, so nothing can be "very unique", or "more unique" than something else. Other style guides argue that terms like ''perfect'' and ''parallel'' never apply ''exactly'' to things in real life, so they are commonly used to mean ''nearly perfect'', ''nearly parallel'', and so on; in this sense, ''more perfect'' (''i.e.'', more nearly perfect, closer to perfect) and ''more parallel'' (''i.e.'', more nearly parallel, closer to parallel) are meaningful.

Balto-Slavic languages

In most

Balto-Slavic languages The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic languages, Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits ...

(such as Czech, Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian), the comparative and superlative forms are also declinable adjectives. In

, comparative and superlative forms are formed with the clitics (''more'') and (''most''): : (''big'') : (''bigger'') : (''biggest'') In

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

, Slovak,

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...

and Slovene, the comparative is formed from the base form of an adjective with a suffix and superlative is formed with a circumfix (equivalent to adding a prefix to the comparative). :''mladý'' / ''młody'' / ''mladý'' / ' / ''mlad'' / '' mlad'' (''young'') :''mladší'' / ''młodszy'' / ''mladší'' / / ''mlađi'' / '' mlajši'' (''younger'') :''nejmladší'' / ''najmłodszy'' / ''najmladší'' / / ''najmlađi'' / '' najmlajši '' (''youngest'') In

, comparative and superlative forms are formed with a suffix or with the words (''more'') and (''most''): : (''kind'') : (''kinder'') : (''kindest'')

Romance languages

In contrast to English, the relative and the superlative are joined into the same degree (the superlative), which can be of two kinds: comparative (e.g. "very beautiful") and absolute (e.g. "the most beautiful").

: The superlative is created from the comparative by inserting the definitive article (la, le, or les), or the possessive article (''mon'', ''ton'', ''son'', etc.), before "plus" or "moins" and the adjective determining the noun. For instance: ''Elle est la plus belle femme'' → (she is the most beautiful woman); ''Cette ville est la moins chère de France'' → (this town is the least expensive in France); ''C'est sa plus belle robe'' → (It is her most beautiful dress). It can also be created with the suffix "-issime" but only with certain words, for example: "C'est un homme richissime" → (That is the most rich man). Its use is often rare and ironic.

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

: The comparative superlative, like in French, has the definite article (such as "las" or "el"), or the possessive article ("tus," "nuestra," "su," etc.), followed by the comparative ("más" or "menos"), so that "el meñique es ''el'' dedo ''más pequeño''" or "el meñique es ''el'' ''más pequeño'' de los dedos" is "the pinky is ''the smallest'' finger." Irregular comparatives are "mejor" for "bueno" and "peor" for "malo," which can be used as comparative superlatives also by adding the definite article or possessive article, so that "''nuestro peor'' error fue casarnos" is "''our worst'' mistake was to get married." The absolute superlative is normally formed by modifying the adjective by adding ''-ísimo'', ''-ísima'', ''-ísimos'' or ''-ísimas'', depending on the gender or number. Thus, "¡Los chihuahuas son perros pequeñísimos!" is "Chihuahuas are such tiny dogs!" Some irregular superlatives are "máximo" for "grande," "pésimo" for "malo," "ínfimo" for "bajo," "óptimo" for "bueno," "acérrimo" for "acre," "paupérrimo" for "pobre," "celebérrimo" for "célebre." There is a difference between comparative superlative and absolute superlative: ''Ella es la más bella'' → (she is the most beautiful); ''Ella es bellísima'' → (she is extremely beautiful).

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

distinguish comparative superlative ''(superlativo relativo)'' and absolute superlative ''(superlativo absoluto/assoluto)''. For the comparative superlative they use the words "mais" and "più" between the article and the adjective, like "most" in English. For the absolute superlative they either use "muito"/"molto" and the adjective or modify the adjective by taking away the final vowel and adding ''issimo'' (singular masculine), ''issima'' (singular feminine), ''íssimos''/''issimi'' (plural masculine), or ''íssimas''/''issime'' (plural feminine). For example: *''Aquele avião é velocíssimo''/''Quell'aeroplano è velocissimo'' → That airplane is very fast There are some irregular forms for some words ending in "-re" and "-le" (deriving from Latin words ending in "-er" and "-ilis") that have a superlative form similar to the Latin one. In the first case words lose the ending "-re" and they gain the endings ''errimo'' (singular masculine), ''errima'' (singular feminine), ''érrimos''/''errimi'' (plural masculine), or ''érrimas''/''errime'' (plural feminine); in the second case words lose the "-l"/"-le" ending and gain ''ílimo''/''illimo'' (singular masculine), ''ílima''/''illima'' (singular feminine), ''ílimos''/''illimi'' (plural masculine), or ''ílimas''/''illime'' (plural feminine), the irregular form for words ending in "-l"/"-le" is somehow rare and, in Italian but not in Portuguese, it exists only in the archaic or literary language. For example: *"Acre" (''acer'' in Latin) which means acrid, becomes "acérrimo"/"acerrimo" ("acerrimus" in Latin). "Magro" ("thin" in Portuguese) becomes "magérrimo." *Italian ''simile'' (''similis'' in Latin) which means "similar," becomes (in ancient Italian) "simillimo" ("simillimus" in Latin). *Portuguese ''difícil'' ("hard/difficult") and ''fácil'' (facile).

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, similar to Portuguese and Italian, distinguishes comparative and absolute superlatives. The comparative uses the word "mai" before the adjective, which operates like "more" or "-er" in English. For example: ''luminos'' → bright, ''mai luminos'' → brighter. To weaken the adjective, the word "puțin" (little) is added between "mai" and the adjective, for example ''mai puțin luminos'' → less bright. For absolute superlatives, the gender-dependent determinant "cel" precedes "mai," inflected as "cel" for masculine and neuter singular, "cei" for masculine plural, "cea" for feminine singular, and "cele" for feminine and neuter plural. For example: ''cea mai luminoasă stea'' → the brightest star; ''cele mai frumoase fete'' → the most beautiful girls; ''cel mai mic morcov'' → the smallest carrot.

Indo-Aryan languages

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Hindustani)ː When comparing two quantities makes use of the instrumental case-marker ''se'' (से سے) and the noun or pronoun takes the

oblique case In grammar, an oblique (abbreviated ; from la, casus obliquus) or objective case (abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case, and sometimes, the vocative. A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role exc ...

. Words like ''aur'' (और اور) "more, even more", ''zyādā'' (ज़्यादा زیادہ) "more" and ''kam'' (कम کم) "less" are added for relative comparisons. When equivalence is to be shown, the personal pronouns take the oblique case and add the genitive case-marker kā (का کا) while the nouns just take in the

form and optionally add the genitive case-marker. The word ''zyādā'' (ज़्यादा زیادہ) "more" is optional, while ''kam'' (कम کم) "less" is required, so that in the absence of either "more" will be inferred.Trends in Hindi Linguisticsː Differential comparatives in Hindi-Urdu (September 2018) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327595669_Differential_comparatives_in_Hindi-Urdu

Superlative Comparison is a feature in the morphology or syntax of some languages whereby adjectives and adverbs are inflected to indicate the relative degree of the property they define exhibited by the word or phrase they modify or describe. In languages t ...

s are made through comparisons with ''sab'' ("all") with the instrumental postposition ''se'' as the suffix. Comparisons using "least" are rare; it is more common to use an antonym. In Sanskritised and Persianised registers of Hindustani, comparative and superlative adjectival forms using suffixes derived from those languages can be found.

Celtic languages

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

: When comparing one entity to another in the present or the future tense, the adjective is changed by adding an ''e'' to the end and ''i'' before the final consonant(s) if the final vowel is broad. Then, the adjective is preceded by "nas" to say "more," and ''as'' to say "most." (The word ''na'' is used to mean ''than''.) Adjectives that begin with ''f'' are lenited. and ''as'' use different syntax constructions. For example:
''Tha mi nas àirde na mo pheathraichean.'' → I am taller than my sisters.
''Is mi as àirde.'' → I am the tallest. As in English, some forms are irregular, i.e. nas fheàrr (better), nas miosa (worse), etc. In other tenses, ''nas'' is replaced by ''na bu'' and ''as'' by ''a bu,'' both of which lenite the adjective if possible. If the adjective begins with a vowel or an ''f'' followed by a vowel, the word ''bu'' is reduced to ''b. For example: *''Bha mi na b' àirde na mo pheathraichean.'' → I was taller than my sisters. *''B' e mi a b' àirde.'' → I was the tallest.

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

is similar to English in many respects. The ending ''-af'' is added onto regular adjectives in a similar manner to the English ''-est'', and with (most) long words ''mwyaf'' precedes it, as in the English ''most''. Also, many of the most common adjectives are irregular. Unlike English, however, when comparing just two things, the superlative ''must'' be used, e.g. of two people - ''John ydy'r talaf'' (John is the tallest). In Welsh, the equative is denoted by inflection in more formal registers, with ''-ed'' being affixed to the adjective, usually preceded, but not obligatorily, by ''cyn'' (meaning 'as'). For example: ''Mae Siôn cyn daled â fi'' (Siôn is as tall as me). Irregular adjectives have specific equative forms, such as ''da'' (‘good’): ''cystal'' = 'as good as'.

Semitic languages

Akkadian

Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to: * Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire * Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language * Akkadian literature, literature in this language * Akkadian cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...

, (on a 12 paragraph

clay tablet In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylu ...

), from the

time period The categorisation of the past into discrete, quantified named blocks of time is called periodization.Adam Rabinowitz. And kingIt’s about time: historical periodization and Linked Ancient World Data'. Study of the Ancient universe Papers, 2014 ...

of the 1350 BC

Amarna letters The Amarna letters (; sometimes referred to as the Amarna correspondence or Amarna tablets, and cited with the abbreviation EA, for "El Amarna") are an archive, written on clay tablets, primarily consisting of diplomatic correspondence between t ...

(a roughly 20-year

body Body may refer to: In science * Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space * Body (biology), the physical material of an organism * Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of anima ...

of letters), two striking examples of the superlative extend the common grammatical use. The first is the numeral "10," as well as "7 and 7." The second is a verb-spacement adjustment. The term "7 and 7" means 'over and over'. The phrase itself is a superlative, but an addition to some of the Amarna letters adds "more" at the end of the phrase (EA 283, ''Oh to see the King-(pharaoh)):'' ''"... I fall at the feet of the king, my lord. I fall at the feet of the king, my lord, 7 and 7 times'' ''more,'' ''...."''. The word 'more' is Akkadian ''mila'', and by Moran is 'more' or 'overflowing'. The meaning in its letter context is "...over and over again, overflowing," (as 'gushingly', or 'obsequiously', as an underling of the king). The numeral 10 is used for ''ten times greater'' in EA 19, ''Love and Gold'', one of King

Tushratta Tushratta (Akkadian: and ) was a king of Mitanni, c. 1358–1335 BCE, at the end of the reign of Amenhotep III and throughout the reign of Akhenaten. He was the son of Shuttarna II. Tushratta stated that he was the grandson of Artatama I. His si ...

's eleven letters to the Pharaoh-(

Amenhotep IV Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

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Akhenaton Akhenaten (pronounced ), also spelled Echnaton, Akhenaton, ( egy, ꜣḫ-n-jtn ''ʾŪḫə-nə-yātəy'', , meaning "Effective for the Aten"), was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh reigning or 1351–1334 BC, the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dy ...

''). The following quote using 10, also closes out the small paragraph by the second example of the superlative, where the verb that ends the last sentence is spread across the letter in s-p-a-c-i-n-g, to accentuate the last sentence, and the verb itself (i.e. the relational kingly topic of the paragraph): :''".... Now, in keeping with our constant and mutual love, you have made it'' 10 ''times greater than the love shown my father. May the gods grant it, and may Teššup, my lord, and

Aman Aman may refer to:Poli People First names * Aman Hambleton (born 1992), Canadian chess grandmaster * Aman Hayer (born 1979), Bhangra musician * Aman Verma (actor) (born 1971), Indian actor Surnames * Mohammed Aman (born 1994), Ethiopian midd ...

make'' flourish ''for evermore, just as it is now, this mutual love of ours.'' The actual last paragraph line contains three words: 'may it be', 'flourish', and 'us'. The verb flourish (from napāhu?, ''to light up, to rise''), uses: -e-le-

né A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth reg ...

-ep-pi-, and the spaces. The other two words on the line, are made from two characters, and then one: ''"...may it be, flourish-our (relations)."''

Finno-Ugric languages

Estonian

In Estonian, the superlative form can usually be formed in two ways. One is a periphrastic construction with ''kõige'' followed by the comparative form. This form exists for all adjectives. For example: the comparative form of ''sinine'' 'blue' is ''sinisem'' and therefore the periphrastic superlative form is ''kõige sinisem''. There is also a synthetic ("short") superlative form, which is formed by adding ''-m'' to the end of the plural partitive case. For ''sinine'' the plural partitive form is ''siniseid'' and so ''siniseim'' is the short superlative. The short superlative does not exist for all adjectives and, in contrast to the ''kõige''-form, has a lot of exceptions.

Finnish

In Finnish, the comparative of the adjective is formed by adding the suffix ''-mpi'' to the inflecting stem of the adjective. Hence ''suuri'' (big) yields ''suurempi''. The superlative being itself an adjective, it must be inflected to agree with the noun it modifies, noting that the inflecting stem of the ''-mpi'' ending is ''-mma/-mmä'' (depending on the vowel harmony of the adjective). Hence ''pieni talo'' (small house) yields ''pienemmän talon edessä'' (in front of the smaller house). There is a small set of exceptions, the most noteworthy being the comparative of the adjective ''hyvä'', good, that becomes ''parempi''. The comparative of the adverb is marked by the ''-mmin'' ending: : The adverbial form ''hyvin'' of the adjective ''hyvä'', good, becomes ''paremmin'', meaning ''in a better way''. The complement of the comparative can be indicated in two ways: * if it is a nominal group, it can be put in the

partitive In linguistics, the partitive is a word, phrase, or case that indicates partialness. Nominal partitives are syntactic constructions, such as "some of the children", and may be classified semantically as either set partitives or entity partitives ba ...

case in front of the adjective or adverb in the comparative. ''Tämä talo on tuota isompi.'' This house is bigger than that one. ''Tämä lähtevä juna kulkee seuraavaa junaa nopeammin.'' This departing train travels faster than the next one. * in all cases, the complement can be introduced by the word ''kuin'' (as) following the comparative. ''Tämä talo on isompi kuin tuo.'' This house is bigger than that one. ''Tämä lähtevä juna kulkee nopeammin kuin seuraava.'' This departing train travels faster than the next one. ''Se on tapahtunut nopeammin kuin osaamme ennakoida.'' It all happened faster than we could anticipate.