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Origin and history of lessen

lessen(v.)

"to become less," c. 1300, from less (adj.) + -en (1). Transitive sense "to make less" is from c. 1400. Related: Lessened; lessening.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to lessen

less

Old English læs (adv.) "less, lest;" læssa (adj.) "less, smaller, fewer" (Northumbrian leassa), from Proto-Germanic *laisizan (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian les "less;" Middle Dutch lise "soft, gentle," German leise "soft"), from PIE root *leis- (2) "small" (source also of Lithuanian liesas "thin") + comparative suffix.

From the first, the adverb has been used often with negatives (none the less). Much less "still more undesirable" is from 1630s. Formerly also "younger," as a translation of Latin minor, a sense now obsolete except in James the Less. Used as a comparative of little, but not related to it. The noun is Old English læsse.

-en(1)

word-forming element making verbs (such as darken, weaken) from adjectives or nouns, from Old English -nian, from Proto-Germanic *-inojan (also source of Old Norse -na), from PIE adjectival suffix *-no-. Most active in Middle English and early modern English, hence most verbs in -en are comparatively recent.

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    decrease
    early 15c., decresen (intransitive) "become less, be diminished gradually," from Anglo-French decreiss-, present-participle stem of decreistre, Old French descroistre (12c., Modern French décroître), from Latin decrescere "to grow less, diminish," from de "away from" (see de-) +
    diminish
    early 15c., diminishen, "to lessen, make or seem to make smaller," from merger of two obsolete verbs, diminue and minish.  Diminue (late 14c.) is from Old French diminuer "make small," from Latin diminuere "break into small pieces," variant of deminuere "lessen, diminish," f
    fall
    Old English feallan (class VII strong verb; past tense feoll, past participle feallen) "to drop from a height; fail, decay, die," from Proto-Germanic *fallanan (source also of Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fallan, Dutch vallen, Old Norse falla, Old High German fallan, German falle
    extenuate
    rare; reduce in thickness or density" (the literal sense, now rare); from Latin extenuatus, past participle of extenuare "lessen...From 1560s as "to lessen, make smaller in degree or appearance, make less blamable, lower in importance or degree."...Extenuating circumstances (1660s) are those which lessen the magnitude of guilt (opposed to aggravating)....
    diminution
    Latin diminutionem (nominative diminutio), earlier deminutionem, noun of action from past-participle stem of deminuere "lessen...
    attenuation
    attenuationem (nominative attenuatio) "a lessening," noun of action from past-participle stem of attenuare "to make thin, lessen...
    attenuate
    "to make thin, to make less," 1520s, from Latin attenuatus, past participle of attenuare "to make thin, lessen, diminish,...
    change
    c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
    dwindle
    "diminish, become less, shrink," 1590s (Shakespeare), apparently diminutive and frequentative of dwine "waste or pine away," from Middle English dwinen "waste away, fade, vanish," from Old English dwinan, from Proto-Germanic *dwinana (source also of Dutch dwijnen "to vanish," Old
    increase
    mid-14c., encresen, "become greater in size or number" (intransitive); late 14c., "cause to grow, enlarge" (transitive), from Anglo-French encress-, Old French encreiss-, present participle stem of encreistre, from Latin increscere "to increase, to grow upon, grow over, swell, gr

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