bættir

Bættir is an Icelandic word that appears in the grammar of the verb bæta, meaning to improve or mend. It is the masculine plural nominative form of the past participle of bæta and is used as an adjective to denote that something has been improved. As such, it can modify masculine plural nouns, and in other gender-number contexts the same stem yields different forms. In linguistic descriptions, bættir may also be used as a substantive meaning “the improved ones.” The form illustrates typical Icelandic participle agreement, where participial adjectives align with the noun they describe in case, number, and gender.

The root sense of bæta is broad, encompassing improvement, addition, and correction, and bættir preserves the sense of improvement when used as a modifier.

Etymologically, bættir comes from the participle form of bæta with standard Icelandic inflectional endings. The word is primarily found in grammars, dictionaries, and texts dealing with Icelandic morphology, rather than as a common everyday adjective.

In modern usage, speakers usually prefer other constructions for "better" or "improved" in everyday speech, but bættir appears in academic or historical discussions of the language or in descriptive grammar contexts.

See also: bæta, betri for contrast with the common word for "better."