Sharper

How to spell sharper

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce sharper

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sharper mean?

1. adjectiveHaving a keener edge, a finer point, or greater intensity than something else.

Sharper in a sentence

• A freshly honed blade is far sharper than a worn one.

• The new lens gives a noticeably sharper image at the edges.

Where does sharper come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The base word 'sharp' descends from the Old English 'scearp', meaning 'having a keen edge' or 'pointed', a thoroughly Germanic word with relatives in Old Norse 'skarpr' and German 'scharf', all going back to a root that meant 'to cut'. The comparative 'sharper' is simply 'sharp' plus the ancient comparative ending '-er', the same '-er' that turns 'fast' into 'faster'. The noun sense, meaning a cheat or swindler, grew from a seventeenth-century slang verb 'to sharp', meaning to live by one's wits or to defraud, and the agent ending '-er' (here marking the doer of an action) produced a word for a habitual trickster, especially at cards. Because the comparative '-er' and the agent '-er' are spelled identically, the two senses share the same form. The spelling stays regular throughout, so the only mild trap is remembering not to double the final consonant when adding '-er'.

How the word is built

• sharp (keen, cutting)
• -er (comparative suffix / agent suffix)