# than

Pronunciation: say "THAN" /ðæn/

## Preposition

1. Used after a comparative or after 'more', 'less', or 'fewer' to introduce the standard of comparison.
   - Simple: Used before a noun or number to compare, as in 'longer than two years'.
   - _She earns more than her manager._
   - _Fewer than ten people came._

## Conjunction

2. Used after other, else, rather, or different to name what is ruled out, passed over for an alternative, or held up as a contrast.
   - Simple: Used after other, else, rather, or different to show what is left out, not chosen, or not the same.
   - _Rather than complain to the landlord, he fixed the leak himself._
   - _The town looks very different than it did twenty years ago._
3. Used after a comparative to introduce the second term of a comparison.
   - Simple: Used after 'more', 'less' or an '-er' word to compare two things.
   - _He worked harder than anyone expected._
   - _The drive home took far longer than we had planned._

## Origin

Old English þanne, another form of þonne ("then, since, because"), became Middle English than or thanne. Its line runs back through Proto-West Germanic and Proto-Germanic *þan ("at that time, then"), probably to a Proto-Indo-European demonstrative. Dutch dan and German denn are cognates, and then is a doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/than (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).