eher.
comparative degree of bald / früh: sooner, earlier
Meaning & usage
comparative degree of bald / früh: sooner, earlier
Es tut mir leid, aber ich konnte nicht eher kommen.
rather fairly, relatively, somewhat; expresses a weakened degree
Es scheint eher unwahrscheinlich, dass sie je ins Ausland geht.
rather sooner, more readily, preferably; expresses a preference
Wenn ich wählen muss, würde ich eher ins Kino gehen.
Eher will ich einen Affen heiraten als dich!
rather more precisely speaking, in fact, more like; used to replace a word or phrase with another
Der Wein scheint mir nicht trocken zu sein, eher halbtrocken.
Diese Aufführung ist doch kein Theater mehr, eher Affentheater!
Where this word comes from
Chiefly from haplology of Middle High German ērer, from Old High German ēriro, from Proto-Germanic *airizô. Compare Dutch eerder. Likely conflated with Middle High German ēr, a rarer byform of ē (whence modern eh, ehe), from Old High German ēr, from Proto-Germanic *airiz, adverbial form of the above. Cognate with Dutch eer, English ere, Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌹𐍃 (airis). The final /r/ was regularly lost in Late Old High German (cf. da, hie, wo), but survived regionally (chiefly in Central German).
Try it on your idea.
eher has 4 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
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.