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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

elderly.

old; having lived for relatively many years.

7 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈɛldɚli/General-American/ˈɛldəli/Received-Pronunciation
  1. old; having lived for relatively many years.

  2. Of an object, being old-fashioned or frail due to aging.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Middle English eldre English elder Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-West Germanic *-līk Old English -līċ Middle English -ly English -ly English elderly From elder + -ly.

noun/ˈɛldɚli/General-American/ˈɛldəli/Received-Pronunciation
  1. Older people as a whole.

    collective · plural · plural-only · singular · with-definite-article
    the elderly
    health insurance and retirement income for the elderly
  2. An elderly person.

    countable · plural · singular · uncommon
    He lives next door to an elderly.
    He lives next door to some elderlies.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Middle English eldre English elder Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-West Germanic *-līk Old English -līċ Middle English -ly English -ly English elderly From elder + -ly.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.