"worse" in seven languages
Meaningworse
Spanish
/peˈoɾ/
inherited
Also the adverb: canta peor.
French
/piʁ/
inherited
From the nominative PEIOR; the adverb is pis (← PEIUS: tant pis 'too bad'). Plus mauvais is common too.
Italian
/pedˈdʒore/
inherited
The adverb is peggio (← PEIUS).
Portuguese
/piˈɔh/
inherited
Romanian
/maj rəw/
other source · mai 'more' (Latin MAGIS) + rău 'bad' (Latin REUM 'guilty')
Romanian has no inherited comparative: mai bun 'better', mai rău 'worse'.
Catalan
/piˈdʒo/
inherited
English
/wɝs/
native English · Old English wiersa
The Latin ancestor
PEIŌREM‘worse’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Like better (mejor, meilleur, migliore), worse kept its own Latin comparative, PEIŌREM, as in pejorative; French pire is the old nominative PEIOR. 'Worst' needs no new word: el peor, le pire, il peggiore, cel mai rău — the article does the job.
English relatives: pejorative
Sound laws at work
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In a sentence
- esEsta película es peor que la primera.
- frCe film est pire que le premier.
- itQuesto film è peggiore del primo.
- ptEsse filme é pior que o primeiro.
- roFilmul ăsta e mai rău decât primul.
- caAquesta pel·lícula és pitjor que la primera.
- enThis film is worse than the first one.