"Than" is a grammatical particle serving as both conjunction and preposition in the English language. It introduces a comparison, and as such is associated with comparatives, and with words such as more, less, and fewer. Typically, it seeks to measure the force of an adjective or similar description between two predicates.
Than - Etymology.
In etymology, it represents Old English þanne, which was a variant of þonne, meaning "then". It is therefore cognate with German denn, "th ...
Usage prescriptionists have ordained a number of rules concerning than that those who do not wish to be edited or corrected may wish to note. These prescriptive grammarians deny that than is a preposition that invariably governs the oblique case, although it has been used as such by writers such as William Shakespeare, whose 1600 play Julius Caesar contains the line:
A man no mightier than thyself or me. . .
and Samuel Johnson, who wrote:
No man had ever more discernment than him, in finding ...
