suppletion.

The use of historically or phonologically unrelated forms within one word's grammatical paradigm.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• verbal suppletion
• suppletive paradigm
• instance of suppletion

On the page

The contrast between good and better is a standard example of suppletion.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal / analytical. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Commonness: uncommon (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: Dictionary verifies unrelated forms within one paradigm, with go/went and good/better as standard lexical facts, not copied example sentences. Writing functions: language analysis, conceptual distinction.