Talk:better

Beh is a persian word ,meaning good. Its comperative form in persian language ,is behtar.
 * Quite possible. However, Persian words are written in the Persian script - see خوب‌تر.-SemperBlotto 07:44, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Beh(and therefore بهتر‎ (behtar))seems to be unrelated to better.It is cognate to Avestan 𐬬𐬊𐬵𐬎‎ (vohu),sanskrit वसु (vasu) instead and descendant of Old Persian 𐎺𐎢 (vahu, “good”),all from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hwásuš, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wésus.     -LolPacino 07:01, 21 September 2020 (UTC)

Which part of speech is better in "I better do that?"
Is it an auxiliary verb? I think it should be mentioned here.

75.80.138.197 08:27, 11 July 2012 (UTC)


 * When better is used in place of had better, it is a modal verb. In had better, better is an adverb, but had better is a modal. —Stephen (Talk) 08:55, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

etymology
Hi, does anyone know if the Celtic word for "good" (Breton mat, Irish maith and so on), is related to "better" etymologically? (Note that the comparative form for it in Breton is gwell, same as in Welsh, which might be related to "well", after all.) --62.117.16.94 01:25, 1 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Looks unlikely - according to the etymology sections of better and maith, better comes from a Proto-Indo-European root *bhAd-, whereas maith might come from a Proto-Indo-European root *mē-. As for gwell/well, this source suggests that they're related. —Mr. Granger (talk • contribs) 01:38, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

NOUN: [singular, uncountable] something that is better
[singular, uncountable] something that is better: the better of the two books ; I expected better of him. Should it be added as a new meaning? --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:35, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

quite better
Quite cannot be used with comparatives except in the expression quite better, meaning ‘recovered from an illness’ --Backinstadiums (talk) 19:42, 3 December 2020 (UTC)

do (someone) one better
To upstage, outshine, surpass someone or something. --Backinstadiums (talk) 23:35, 13 March 2022 (UTC)

RFC discussion: January 2023–June 2024
English, etymology 1, adverb, sense 3: Had better. Tagged by Chuck Entz in 2020 with the message (hidden in the source): "this is a modal auxiliary verb, not an adverb". &mdash; excarnateSojourner (talk &middot; contrib) 22:03, 25 January 2023 (UTC)


 * I just removed the entry, the verb has already been added. Nardog (talk) 10:04, 4 June 2024 (UTC)