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GERMAN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

desto.

the (forming the parallel comparative with je)

5 characters2 syllables approx.Deutsch language

Meaning & usage

conj/ˈdɛstoː/
  1. the (forming the parallel comparative with je)

    Je mehr, desto besser!
    Je eher, desto besser!
  2. used instead of je in the je ... desto construction

    informal · proscribed
    Desto mehr, desto besser
Where this word comes from

From Middle High German deste, from Old High German deste, theste, a contraction of des diu, respectively the genitive and instrumental case forms of Old High German daz n (“the; that, it”) respectively. Compare Dutch des te and English the ... the. Etymologically equivalent to des + die. The form ending in -o was by analogy to other adverbs and pronouns ending in -o in use in chancellery language, e.g. dero, jetzo, bishero.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.