old
/ˈoʊld/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.75 in modern English
4
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
adj
Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
adj
Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
adj
Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
Example Sentences
- "an old abandoned building"
- "an old friend"
- "They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too."
- "When asked why the devices were retrofitted on older models instead of newer ones, Sarno said the MTA typically uses older car models when making modifications in case there are any unwanted effects."
- "a wrinkled old man"
- "an old loaf of bread"
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English old, oold, from Old English ald, eald (“old, aged, ancient, antique, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown-up”), originally a participle form, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, tall, big”). Cognates Cognate with Scots aald, auld (“old”), Yola yola, yolaw, yold, yole (“old”), North Frisian ool, ual, uuil, uul, üülj (“old”), Saterland Frisian oold (“old”), West Frisian âld (“old”), Alemannic German altu, oalt, oalts, olt, àltà (“old”), Bavarian oid (“old”), Central Franconian alt, aod, auw, oot (“old”), Cimbrian and German alt (“old”), Dutch oud (“old”), German Low German old, oolt (“old”), Luxembourgish al (“old”), Mòcheno òlt (“old”), Vilamovian aołd (“old”), Yiddish אַלט (alt, “old”), Danish ældre (“elderly”), Faroese eldri (“elder, older”), Icelandic aldinn (“old”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk eldre (“elderly”), Swedish äldre (“elderly”), Crimean Gothic alt (“old”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (alþeis, “old”), Latin altus (“high, tall, grown big, lofty”). Related to eld.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈoʊld/
- British English: /əʊld/
Usage
Inflected Forms
older (comparative)
elder (comparative)
oldest (superlative)
eldest (superlative)
oldermost (US, dialectal)
ol (alternative, colloquial)
ol' (alternative, colloquial)
ole (alternative, colloquial)
owld (alternative, pronunciation spelling)
aad (alternative, Geordie)
oul (alternative, Ireland)
oul' (alternative, Ireland)