Meaning

adjective (comparative of `little' usually used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning not as great in amount or degree

adjective (usually preceded by `no') lower in quality

adjective (nonstandard in some uses but often idiomatic with measure phrases) fewer

originAdverb From Middle English les, lesse, leasse, lasse, from Old English lǣs (“smaller, less”), from Proto-Germanic *laisiz, from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to shrink, grow thin, be gentle”). Cognate with Old Frisian lēs (“less”), Old Saxon lēs (“less”). According to Kroonen (2013), from a northern Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *leh₂is- or *leh₃is-, which he connects to Lithuanian liesas…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0