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? @DCDuring, Chuck Entz. (Also: what about "lesser Sunda Islands"/"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)