The word "meaner" has an interesting spelling pattern that can be explained through its phonetic transcription. For starters, "me" is pronounced as /miː/ and "an" is pronounced as /æn/. The final syllable "er" is pronounced as /ər/ and is commonly seen at the end of verbs to indicate the doer of an action. Therefore, the phonetic transcription of "meaner" is /miːnər/, with the emphasis on the second syllable. This word can be used to describe someone who is unkind or cruel towards others.
Meaner is the comparative form of the adjective "mean," which can have multiple definitions depending on the context. In general, when describing a person or their behavior, mean refers to being unkind, spiteful, or cruel. When something is mean, it can also imply that it is low in quality, unappealing, or disagreeable.
When meaner is used to compare two persons, it suggests that the second person is even more unkind or malicious than the first. This comparative form amplifies the negative characteristics associated with being mean, indicating that the person's behavior or attitude is worse than that of another. It highlights an increased level of unkindness, spite, or cruelty.
In another context, meaner can be used to compare the intensity or extremity of something non-human. For instance, if a storm is described as mean, then a meaner storm would imply a more intense, severe, or vicious one. This comparative form suggests that the second storm is harsher, more damaging, or more dangerous in comparison to the first.
In summary, meaner is the comparative form of mean, indicating more unkindness, maliciousness, or cruelty in a person's behavior, or greater intensity, severity, or viciousness in the description of a non-human subject.
* The statistics data for these misspellings percentages are collected from over 15,411,110 spell check sessions on www.spellchecker.net from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012.
The word "meaner" originated from the Old English word "gemǣne", which means "common" or "shared". Over time, this word evolved and various forms emerged, such as "mǣnan" in Middle English and "mean" in modern English. "Meaner" is the comparative form of "mean", which is derived from the original meaning of "mean" as "average" or "in the middle". However, the word "meaner" has also developed additional meanings, such as "unpleasant" or "cruel", which may have influenced its etymology as well.