Elderly

How to spell elderly

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce elderly

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does elderly mean?

1. adjectiveOf or relating to a person who is old or advanced in years.

Elderly in a sentence

• The new bus service was designed to help elderly residents reach the clinic.

• An elderly neighbour spends most mornings tending his garden.

Where does elderly come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grew out of the native Old English adjective eald, meaning 'old', whose comparative form ealdra gave English the noun and adjective 'elder'. To this older word the suffix '-ly', from the Old English -lic (originally meaning 'having the form or body of'), was attached to create 'elderly', which surfaced in the late 1500s with the sense 'somewhat old' or 'approaching old age'. The same eald root sits behind a whole family of everyday words, including 'old' itself, 'alderman' (literally an 'elder man' of standing), and the verb 'elder' as a church office. Over time 'elderly' softened into a polite, slightly formal way of describing aged people, often preferred to the blunter 'old'. The spelling stays regular and phonetic, so the only real trap is remembering the 'd' in the 'eld' cluster rather than writing it as 'elerly'.

How the word is built

• elder (from Old English ealdra, comparative of eald: old)
• -ly (adjective suffix)