The building blocks of English

Affixes

-er2

Forming the comparative of some adjectives and adverbs.

Old English suffix ‑ra (adjectival), ‑or (adverbial), of Germanic origin.

The adjectives that make their comparatives with ‑er are generally those of one syllable: brighter, greater, harder, older, richer, tighter. Most of those with two syllables that end in ‑le, ‑er or ‑ow also add ‑er, as do those in ‑y or ‑ly (when the y changes to an i): simpler, cleverer, narrower, angrier, livelier. Most adjectives of two syllables or more form their comparatives with more instead.

A few adverbs are identical in form to the adjectives from which they derive, and follow the same rules for forming comparatives: he runs faster, I'll see you later. A few others, without corresponding adjectives, do the same: sooner, farther/further.

For the superlative form, see ‑est1.