Elder

How to spell elder

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce elder

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does elder mean?

1. adjectiveOf greater age; the older of two people, especially within a family.
2. nounAn older, often influential person whose age commands respect, or an appointed official in some churches.
3. nounA shrub or small tree bearing white flowers and dark berries used in cordials and wine.

Elder in a sentence

• adjective

  Her elder brother inherited the family business.

• noun

  The village elder settled the dispute over the shared well.

• noun

  She picked the white blossom from the elder to make cordial.

• adjective

  The elder partner in the firm handles the senior accounts.

• noun

  Each elder in the congregation took a turn leading the service.

• noun

  A wild elder grew along the back hedge, heavy with dark berries.

Where does elder come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word descends from the Old English ieldra or eldra, the comparative form of eald, which simply meant 'old'. The Germanic root behind it carried the plain sense of 'having lived a long time', and the comparative was used to mark the older of two people, much as we still say someone is the elder of two siblings. Over the centuries the noun use grew, so that an elder came to mean a person of greater age and, by extension, one whose age earned respect and authority, hence the church and tribal officials called elders. The modern word 'old' and the slightly archaic 'eld' both share this same ancestry, and the surviving -er ending is the old comparative marker that also lurks in 'better' and 'worse'. Confusingly, the shrub also called the elder (whose berries make elderflower cordial) comes from a separate Old English word, ellaern, and only later collided in spelling with this 'older' word.

How the word is built

• eld- (from Old English eald: old)
• -er (comparative suffix)