smaller
小さい
解説 Definition
smaller は small（小さい）の比較級です。「より小さい」という意味で、二つの物や人を比べる時に使います。単に「小さい」ではなく、何かと比べて小さいことを表します。
Smaller is the comparative form of small. It describes someone or something as having less size, amount, extent, or importance than another person or thing, whether the comparison is stated with than or understood from context.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
原形 small に比較級の -er をそのまま付けた形で、small → smaller。語末は /ər/ と発音され、「より小さい」と比較を表す。smaller than ...「…より小さい」や a smaller bag「もっと小さいバッグ」で覚え、単に小さい状態を述べる small と区別する。
Smaller is formed regularly by adding -er to the base adjective small: small becomes smaller. The ending is pronounced with an unstressed “er” sound, and the word always introduces a comparison, either explicit or understood. In This cup is smaller than that one, than names the standard of comparison. In I need a smaller bag, the comparison is implicit: the desired bag must be smaller than the current or previously considered one. Keep small for a simple description and smaller for “more small” in a comparison.
例文
This cup is smaller than that one.
このカップはあれより小さいです。
I need a smaller bag.
もっと小さいバッグが必要です。
The room is smaller than I thought.
その部屋は思っていたより小さいです。
smaller の類義語・関連語
smaller の語源・成り立ち Etymology
古英語 smæl（細い、狭い）の比較級。ゲルマン祖語 *smalaz に遡り、元は「細い・薄い」が原義で、そこから「小さい」へ意味が拡大した。関連語: small, smallpox。ドイツ語 schmal（狭い）と同根。
Smaller is the regular comparative form of small, made by adding the suffix -er. Small comes from Old English smæl, which could mean “slender, narrow, or fine,” and is traced to a Germanic source also represented by German schmal, “narrow.” Its sense broadened from thinness or narrowness to reduced general size. The modern comparative formation small plus -er directly expresses a lower degree of size or extent.
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