Talk:lesser

Taxonomy
When used in "taxonomic"/organism names like lesser ape, lesser black-backed gull, lesser Congo shrew, lesser dung fly, lesser flamingo, lesser kestrel, lesser kudu, lesser panda, lesser yellowlegs, etc, does this always just mean "smaller", or does it have a more specific meaning the way e.g. false and bastard do? . (Also: what about ""/"lesser Sundanese archipelago"-type uses?) - -sche (discuss) 20:54, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
 * About vernacular names for organisms, I think that's right: it's about the lesser size of the 'lesser X' relative to a 'great X', 'greater X', or possibly a 'common X'. Also least as in least bittern, least weasel, least water-lily, least skipper, least shrew. I doubt that there is much standardization: eg, Hypolimnas bolina, an Australian butterfly, has two vernacular names: common eggfly and great eggfly. Bird names, however, seem a bit more standardized. DCDuring (talk) 22:26, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Also, the size comparisons may not reflect the current knowledge about the relative sizes of the species. New larger or smaller species may have been discovered or reassigned and given a name that is an NP headed by X. And reassignment can go the other way, species mergers can take place, etc. DCDuring (talk) 22:31, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Greater is used as well: greater earless lizard (there are lesser earless lizards), greater mastiff bat (there are little mastiff bats), greater guinea pig, greater night-stalking tiger beetle, greater amakihi.
 * I don't have an informed intuition about toponyms. DCDuring (talk) 22:42, 2 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Alright. I've added a few species names as usexes to lesser, least, and greater; great already had one. - -sche (discuss) 01:59, 3 March 2020 (UTC)

ADVERB: less
ADVERB: less https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/lesser
 * bit is recorded locally as past participle ‘especially among males and lesser educated speakers’ ( These apples are wormy, I think you got bit, i.e. cheated). --Backinstadiums (talk) 09:33, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

''the lesser-known artists of the period one of Glasgow’s lesser-used venues'' https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/lesser --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:29, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

sand hills?
sandhill crane  maybe? --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:09, 28 April 2020 (UTC)