Link Centre Dictionary

elder

el·der

UK/ˈɛldə/ US/ˈeldə/ common us

noun

1.

a person who is older than you are

Synonyms
2.

any of numerous shrubs or small trees of temperate and subtropical northern hemisphere having white flowers and berrylike fruit

3.

any of various church officers

adjective

1.

used of the older of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a father from his son

  • “Bill Adams, Sr.”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

older brother or sister

  • “big sister”
Synonyms
Antonyms

Origin

From Middle English eldre, from Old English eldra, yldra, ieldra, from Proto-Germanic *alþizô. The vowel change from a to e triggered by the following i is called umlaut or I-mutation.

Phrases

  • black elder
  • box elder
  • box elder maple
  • Chinese elder
  • dwarf elder
  • ground elder
  • marsh elder
  • salt marsh elder

Related words

Broader terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.