Eldest
adjectiveOldest, especially the first-born or most senior among a group of people such as siblings or relatives.
How to spell eldest
6 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce eldest
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does eldest mean?
- adjectiveOldest, especially the first-born or most senior among a group of people such as siblings or relatives.
Eldest in a sentence
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As the eldest of four brothers, he inherited the family business.
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Their eldest daughter is already at university.
Where does eldest come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
This word comes straight from Old English, where it appeared as ieldesta or eldesta, the superlative form of eald, meaning 'old'. The Old English vowel shift that produced ieldra (elder) and ieldest (eldest) was a sound change called i-mutation, which is exactly why the vowel softened from the 'old' of the base word to the 'el' of elder and eldest. The word belongs to the same Germanic family as Dutch oud and German alt, all tracing back to a root meaning 'grown up' or 'nourished'. Over time English narrowed eldest so that it is used mainly of people, and especially of family members, while 'oldest' took over the more general work of comparing the age of things. That split is why we say the eldest child but the oldest building, and the survival of the older 'eld' spelling is the main thing a writer has to remember.
How the word is built
- eld- (from Old English eald: old)
- -est (superlative suffix)
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