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erst.

First.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ɝst/General-American/ɜːst/Received-Pronunciation

  1. First.

    not-comparable · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English erste, from Old English ǣresta (“first”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist (“earliest, first”), equivalent to ere + -est. Cognate with North Frisian iarst, iáárs, jarst, jest (“first”), West Frisian earst (“first”), Dutch eerste (“first”), German erste (“first”).

adv/ɝst/General-American/ɜːst/Received-Pronunciation

  1. First of all, before (some other specified thing).

    not-comparable · obsolete

  2. Sooner (than); before.

    not-comparable · obsolete

  3. Formerly, once, erstwhile.

    archaic · not-comparable · poetic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English erste, from Old English ǣresta (“first”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist (“earliest, first”), equivalent to ere + -est. Cognate with North Frisian iarst, iáárs, jarst, jest (“first”), West Frisian earst (“first”), Dutch eerste (“first”), German erste (“first”).

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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.