What is the difference between betwixt and between

English is not the easiest language to learn. This may be because of the many exceptions to its rules or because the same combinations of letters can be pronounced in many different ways. English also has one of the largest vocabularies of any recorded language , which means English speakers can say what they mean in a lot of different ways, but they also have a lot more words potentially to misuse, often without even realizing it.

This post covers the correct application of some words that sound right but are often spoken or written in the wrong time or place. Between is a preposition that, by definition, refers to the relationship connecting or separating two items. Among is used when there are more than two items or people in the mix, or for describing the relationships of collective and undefined items in a group. There is, unsurprisingly, a little more nuance between these two terms than the above explanations suggest.

Now we are comparing four items fall, winter, spring, and summer as opposed to the initial two, but because the relationship of each item is the same, it would be acceptable to use between.

Less and fewer, when used in the same context, convey that there is a smaller amount of the subsequent thing or things being described. Fewer is the comparative form of the adjective few , and it is used before all countable nouns.

A countable noun is a noun that refers to a group of things that you can count individually, such as apples, pencils, sports, or snowflakes. Less is a determiner and precedes all uncountable nouns. An uncountable noun functions as a singular noun in a sentence and refers to something that cannot be counted one by one, like time , snow , and happiness.

Always use fewer before a countable noun and less before uncountable nouns. Here are a couple examples to illustrate this distinction:. Some teachers are giving less homework to students. With fewer assignments to complete, students can participate more in extracurricular activities. Because this year brought less snow , schools received fewer snow days.

People should spend fewer hours on their cell phones because they are spending less time having face-to-face conversations than they previously did. Timely sounds like it means on time, but it does not. A timely event occurs at the right time, or at an advantageous moment.

To Harrison and his wife there was no distinction between the executive and judicial branches of the law. He noticed at the same time several burnt matches between his cushions and her chair. New Word List Word List. Save This Word! See synonyms for betwixt and between on Thesaurus. We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Only the user who asked this question will see who disagreed with this answer. Read more comments. You might see it in a poem or an old book, but nobody actually uses that word.

See a translation. Highly-rated answerer. They are the same. Betwixt is less common, and very formal. I've never heard of "betwixt". There's a saying for "between" though!