worseyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[worse 词源字典]
worse: [OE] Worse goes back to prehistoric Germanic *wersizon. This was a comparative formation based on *wers-, which also produced English war and German wirren ‘confuse’. The superlative worst [OE] came from the same base.
[worse etymology, worse origin, 英语词源]
worse (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English wiersa, wyrsa "worse," from Proto-Germanic *wers-izon- (cognates: Old Saxon wirs, Old Norse verri, Swedish värre, Old Frisian wirra, Old High German wirsiro, Gothic wairsiza "worse"), comparative of PIE *wers- (1) "to confuse, mix up" (cognates: Old High German werra "strife," Old Saxon werran "to entangle, compound;" see war (n.)). Used as a comparative of bad, evil, ill or as the opposite of better. The adverb is Old English wyrs; the noun is Old English wyrsa. Phrase for better or for worse is attested from late 14c. (for bet, for wers); to change for the worse is recorded from c. 1400.