The word "shorter" is pronounced as /ˈʃɔːtər/ in IPA phonetic transcription. The first sound is "sh" which is a voiceless postalveolar fricative, followed by "o" which is pronounced as an open-mid back rounded vowel. Then comes the sound of "r" which is a voiced alveolar trill or tap. The final syllable has the sound of "t" which is a voiceless alveolar plosive, followed by "er" pronounced as a schwa /ə/. Overall, the word has two syllables with stress on the first syllable "shor".
Shorter is an adjective that refers to something or someone of lesser height, length, or duration compared to others. It describes a reduced length, size, or time period in comparison to a particular standard or reference point. The term can be applied to physical objects, periods of time, or even individual people.
When describing physical objects, shorter suggests a reduced vertical or horizontal measurement. It can pertain to decreased height, as with a shorter building, a shorter person, or a shorter tree. It can also signify less length, such as a shorter road, a shorter book, or a shorter rope. In these contexts, shorter implies a constraint in size or dimension compared to a typical or expected norm.
When referring to time periods, shorter indicates a reduced length or duration. For instance, a shorter movie implies a film that has a lesser running time than others of its genre. Similarly, a shorter vacation refers to a period of time, usually a holiday, that is not as lengthy as usual getaways.
Furthermore, shorter can also denote a comparison between individuals. It refers to a person who is not as tall as others, having a smaller height. This quality can describe someone's physical stature or be used metaphorically to indicate a person of lesser influence, importance, or authority compared to someone of greater stature.
Overall, shorter signifies a diminution in height, length, or duration, providing a relative assessment in relation to a specific criterion or a commonly accepted standard.
* 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 "shorter" comes from the combination of two separate words: "short" and "-er".
The word "short" originated from the Old English word "sceort", which referred to something that had a small distance between its ends or was not long. It has cognates in other Germanic languages such as Old Norse "skorta" and Old High German "scurz".
The suffix "-er" in "shorter" is a comparative suffix commonly used to indicate a comparison between two things, with the meaning of "more" or "less". It is derived from Old English "-ra", which was added to adjectives and adverbs to form comparative forms. Over time, it evolved and took various forms in different stages of English, eventually settling as "-er" in Modern English.