Older

How to spell older

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce older

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does older mean?

1. adjectiveHaving lived or existed for a greater length of time than someone or something else.

Older in a sentence

• My older brother moved out of the family home years ago.

• The older flats in the city centre were built before the war.

Where does older come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is simply the comparative form of 'old', built with the familiar -er ending that English uses to compare adjectives (as in 'taller' or 'colder'). The base word 'old' comes from the Old English eald, which meant 'aged' or 'long in existence', and which traces back to a Germanic root carrying the sense of 'grown up' or 'nourished to maturity'. That same ancestral root lies behind the related word 'elder', which is really an older comparative form that survived alongside the regularised 'older'. Because the spelling just stacks a clean -er onto 'old', it holds no real surprises and has stayed remarkably stable since Anglo-Saxon times. The doubling and silent-letter traps that snare adults elsewhere are entirely absent here.

How the word is built

• old (root, from Old English eald)
• -er (comparative suffix)