age
/eɪd͡ʒ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.32 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The amount of time that some being has been alive, or that some thing has been in existence, as measured from its birth or origin until the present or until some other given reference point. (Often measured in number of years; alternatively in months, days, hours, etc.; see also the usage notes)
Countable
noun
The time of life at which some particular power or capacity is understood to become vested.
Countable
noun
Maturity; especially, the time of life at which one attains full personal rights and capacities.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- ""What is the age of your oldest child?" — "He's ten." (ten years old)"
- "What were their ages at the time of their marriage?"
- "We can determine the age of fossils using radiometric dating."
- "What is the present age of the earth?"
- "I have a daughter your age, and I tell her when I was your age I was already working."
- "You should play with kids the same age as you."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- Proto-Indo-European *-u Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu Proto-Indo-European *-wom Proto-Indo-European *h₂oywom Proto-Italic *aiwom Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Proto-Italic *aiwotāts Latin aetātem Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂tos Proto-Italic *-ātos Latin -ātus Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin -āticus Latin -āticum Vulgar Latin *aetāticum Old French eagebor. Middle English age English age From Middle English age, Old French aage, eage, edage, from an assumed Vulgar Latin *aetāticum, derived from Latin aetātem, itself derived from aevum (“lifetime”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- (“vital force”). Compare French âge. Displaced native Old English ieldu. The verb is from Middle English agen, from the noun. Originally found mostly as a participial adjective, probably an adjective in -ed, derived from the noun, reanalyzed to create a verb; perhaps modeled on such pairs as Latin senēscō (seneō; verb) / senex (adjective) and Middle French vieillir (verb) / vieil (adjective). Also compare Old French se aagier, eogier (“become of age”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
age on Wikiquote
decay
wither
go by the wayside
go the way of the dinosaurs
go the way of the dodo
go the way of the dodo bird
make older