比一比，比較小的那一個
這一族就是核心畫面本身：兩樣東西擺在一起，指著小的那個。
adjective · B2
Smaller in size, amount, or importance than the other thing it is being compared with. It is a formal word and it almost always goes in front of a noun.
較小的；較次要的
核心畫面
Picture two things standing side by side. One is bigger, heavier or more important; the one you point at with lesser is the other. The word never really stands alone — a bigger one is always somewhere in the picture, even when nobody names it. That is why lesser feels formal: it is a comparison that has been folded into a single word.
可以想成兩樣東西並排放著，一大一小，你指著小的那一個說 lesser。這個字身邊一定有一個「比較大的」存在，就算沒有…更多收起
可以想成兩樣東西並排放著，一大一小，你指著小的那一個說 lesser。這個字身邊一定有一個「比較大的」存在，就算沒有說出來，也在那個畫面裡。所以它形容的從來不是東西本身，而是它在這場比較裡的位置。也因為整個比較被折進一個字裡，它聽起來偏正式、偏書面。From the word’s history
Wiktionary records lesser as less + -er — a comparative ending stuck onto a word that is already a comparative. The doubling matches what the word does: it is a comparison wearing a comparison.
來源資料記著 lesser 就是 less 加上比較級字尾 -er，也就是在一個已經是比較級的字上，又比了一次。這個重複正好對上它今天的樣子：它整個字就是一場比較，所以它永遠需要另一邊。
evidence packet: Wiktionary (kaikki) etymology_text for lesser — "From less + -er."
Three branches
兩個都不好，挑傷害小的
把比較的尺度從大小換成「壞的程度」：兩件壞事放上天平，指著比較輕的那一端。
adjective · B2
The choice that will cause less harm or trouble, when both of the two choices open to you are bad ones. Neither is good; this one is only less bad.
兩害相權取其輕
物種名稱裡的「小型的那種」
同一個比較被講久了就固定下來，直接變成名字的一部分，不再是臨時的描述。
adjective · C1
Used inside the name of an animal, bird, or plant to mark the smaller kind, when another kind with a similar name is bigger. It is a technical word, used in nature books rather than in conversation.
小型的（用於物種名）
原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Lessername
- 1
A surname.
- Into them Lesser inserts three intentionally similar heroines, annoying American expats in Cambridge, England,[ ]whose Anglophilia leads to a quite unwarranted amount of sightseeing.
lesseradj/ˈlɛsɚ/
- 1
Of two (or, rarely, more than two) things: the smaller in size (littler), in value, in importance etc.
- lesser panda
- lesser yellowlegs
lesseradj/ˈlɛsɚ/
- 1
that which is of lesser size, quality, degree, or significance; of lower status, importance, or rank
- The larger Sand Hill Cranes increasingly do not migrate, but almost all lesser ones do.
- Between the two men, he was clearly the lesser one.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。