longer

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English longer, longere, normalisation of Middle English lenger, lengere (“longer”), from Old English lengra (“longer”), from Proto-Germanic *langizô (“longer”), comparative of Proto-Germanic *langaz (“long”), equivalent to long +‎ -er. Cognate with Saterland Frisian laanger (“longer”), West Frisian langer (“longer”), Dutch langer (“longer”), German länger (“longer”), Danish længere (“longer”), Swedish längre (“longer”), Icelandic lengri (“longer”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɒŋ.ɡə/
  • (Northumbria) IPA^(key): /ˈlæŋ.ɡæ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔŋ.ɡɚ/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑŋ.ɡɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Ireland (rural)) IPA^(key): [ˈlɑŋ.əɾ]
  • Rhymes: -ɒŋɡə(ɹ)

Adjective

longer

1. comparative form of long: more long

Adverb

longer

1. comparative form of long: more long

Derived terms

• any longer
• no longer

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

English long

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Proto-Italic *-āzios

Latin -āriusnom.

Latin -āriusbor.

Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz

Proto-West Germanic *-ārī

Old English -ere

Middle English -ere

English -er

English longer

From long (“yearn”) + -er.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈlɒŋ.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔŋ.ɚ/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑŋ.ɚ/
• (Ireland (rural)) IPA^(key): [ˈlɑŋ.əɾ]
• Rhymes: -ɒŋə(ɹ)

Noun

longer (plural longers)

1. One who longs or yearns for something.
   • 1887, Albert H[arris] Tolman, The Style of Anglo-Saxon Poetry‎^[1], page 15:

     The slayer also lay,
     The terrible earth-drake deprived of life,
     Oppressed by bale: the ring-hoard longer
     The twisted worm, might not control.

Further reading

• “longer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

From long +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔ̃.ʒe/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

longer

1. to walk along, run along

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written longe- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

Conjugation of longer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	longer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	longeant /lɔ̃.ʒɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		longé /lɔ̃.ʒe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	longe /lɔ̃ʒ/	longes /lɔ̃ʒ/	longe /lɔ̃ʒ/	longeons /lɔ̃.ʒɔ̃/	longez /lɔ̃.ʒe/	longent /lɔ̃ʒ/
	imperfect	longeais /lɔ̃.ʒɛ/	longeais /lɔ̃.ʒɛ/	longeait /lɔ̃.ʒɛ/	longions /lɔ̃.ʒjɔ̃/	longiez /lɔ̃.ʒje/	longeaient /lɔ̃.ʒɛ/
	past historic2	longeai /lɔ̃.ʒe/	longeas /lɔ̃.ʒa/	longea /lɔ̃.ʒa/	longeâmes /lɔ̃.ʒam/	longeâtes /lɔ̃.ʒat/	longèrent /lɔ̃.ʒɛʁ/
	future	longerai /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁe/	longeras /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁa/	longera /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁa/	longerons /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɔ̃/	longerez /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁe/	longeront /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	longerais /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/	longerais /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/	longerait /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/	longerions /lɔ̃.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/	longeriez /lɔ̃.ʒə.ʁje/	longeraient /lɔ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	longe /lɔ̃ʒ/	longes /lɔ̃ʒ/	longe /lɔ̃ʒ/	longions /lɔ̃.ʒjɔ̃/	longiez /lɔ̃.ʒje/	longent /lɔ̃ʒ/
	imperfect2	longeasse /lɔ̃.ʒas/	longeasses /lɔ̃.ʒas/	longeât /lɔ̃.ʒa/	longeassions /lɔ̃.ʒa.sjɔ̃/	longeassiez /lɔ̃.ʒa.sje/	longeassent /lɔ̃.ʒas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	longe /lɔ̃ʒ/	—	longeons /lɔ̃.ʒɔ̃/	longez /lɔ̃.ʒe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

See also

• border
• côtoyer

Further reading

• “longer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• grêlon