Becoming worse or making something worse in quality, condition, or severity.
From Old English 'wyrsa,' comparative form of 'yfel' (evil or bad). The -en suffix was added to create a verb form, following Old English patterns of turning adjectives into verbs.
Old English speakers described anything bad as 'yfel' (similar to 'evil'), so 'worse' literally means 'more evil'—showing how our ancestors viewed badness as almost a moral force!
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