superlatiivid

Superlatiivid, or superlatives, are a grammatical category used to express the highest degree of a quality within a group. They are employed to compare three or more items or to indicate that a property is at its maximum in a given context. The form or construction chosen to express a superlative is language-specific, and can affect adjectives, adverbs, or both.

In many languages, superlatives are formed either morphologically (synthetic forms) or analytically (with separate words or phrases). In English, for example, short one-syllable adjectives often take the suffixes -er and -est (big, bigger, biggest), while longer adjectives use the word most (beautiful, more beautiful, the most beautiful). The superlative is typically accompanied by a definite determiner, as in the phrase the biggest or the most efficient.

Other languages express the superlative through different mechanisms, such as dedicated suffixes, fixed particles, or periphrastic constructions combining a word meaning “most” with a comparative or adjective form. Some languages use a separate determiner or pronoun to mark the superlative, while others rely on context and word order to convey the extreme degree.

Usage notes: A superlative refers to the extreme quality within a set of three or more items or to the maximum property of a single item in a given context. It can function as an attributive modifier before a noun or as a predicate complement, and may require agreement with the noun in gender, number, or case in languages that mark those features.

See also: comparative, positive degree, degree of comparison.