peior

Probably from Proto-Indo-European *ped-yōs (“to the ground, downward”), from *ped- (“to walk, fall, stumble”); compare pessimus (“worst”). Michiel de Vaan notes that a similar phonetic change *[dj]/[jd] > *[j] can be observed in the etymology of caelum (“chisel”) and caia (“cudgel”) from Proto-Italic *kaid(s)lo- and *kaidjā- respectively. Cognate to pēs, pessum.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpei̯.i̯or/, [ˈpɛi̯ːɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpe.jor/, [ˈpɛːjor]

peior (neuter peius); third declension

1. comparative degree of malus; worse

   Synonym: deterior, nequior

• In dictionaries published before the 21st century, the root vowel can often be found marked as long, but it is in those cases indicated to be long by position rather than by nature. This convention is abolished in modern dictionaries, which give, depending on typography, peior or pejor without a macron. The vowel is thus properly short, as can be indicated by the variant typographic spelling pĕjjor.

Third-declension comparative adjective.

• melior

• peiōrō
• impeiōrō

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: peggiore
  • Sicilian: pijuri
• North Italian:
  • Romansch: pêr
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: pitjor
  • French: pire
  • Occitan: pièger
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Galician: peor
  • Portuguese: pior
  • Spanish: peor
• Borrowings:
  • →⇒ English: pejorative

• pessimus (superlative)

• “peior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “peiior”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 455
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “pessum”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 463
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “caedō, -ere”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 79–80

From Latin pēiōrem, accusative singular of pēior. The nominative form, pire (whence modern French pire) derives from the Latin nominative.

peior (oblique singular, nominative singular pire)

1. worse; comparative degree of mal
   • c. 1180, Chrétien de Troyes, Lancelot ou le Chevalier de la charrette:

     Qui peior que Sarrazin sont.

     Who are worse than Saracens.

2. worst; superlative degree of mal

• meillor (“best”)

• French: pire (from nominative form)

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (peior, includes information on declension)
• peior on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

peior m or f (plural peiores)

1. Obsolete spelling of pior

peior

1. Obsolete spelling of pior