ébb

Ébb is a term found in historical Hungarian texts and some regional dialects, recognized as an adverb used to intensify a comparative meaning. In practice, it conveyed notions akin to “more,” “farther,” or “even more” within a sentence, functioning as an intensifier in older language stages.

In standard modern Hungarian, ébb is largely obsolete. Contemporary usage relies on the word még for general intensification, or on the regular comparative forms formed with the suffixes -bb/-ebb attached to adjectives (for example, larger or smaller variants produced by the standard comparative construction). Ébb therefore survives chiefly in older literature, religious writings, and certain dialectal remnants rather than in everyday speech.

The exact origin and development of ébb are not decisively settled. Scholarly treatments in the field of historical Hungarian linguistics suggest connections with older adverbial or demonstrative elements and with the broader system of comparative suffixation, though precise etymology remains uncertain. Its appearance in texts varies by author and period, reflecting broader shifts in orthography, pronunciation, and syntax that accompanied the transition to modern Hungarian.

Today, ébb is generally categorized as archaic or dialectal in lexicons and linguistic studies. It is cited as an example of how intensity and degree were expressed in earlier stages of the language, offering insights into historical word formation and sentence structure. It is not used in contemporary standard Hungarian outside of historical quotation or specialized linguistic discussion, and it should not be confused with the English word “ebb,” which has a distinct meaning.