Old

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈəʊld/

Definitions

1. Having lived or lasting for many years; relating to a former time or previous period; showing characteristics of maturity or long use
2. Denoting something from the distant past or earlier era; indicating advanced age or extended duration; characteristic of something no longer recent or fresh
3. Belonging to or deriving from a time long ago; having existed for a considerable span of time; bearing marks of age or prolonged use

Etymology: The adjective "old" is one of English's oldest core words, and its ancestor was not originally about age at all. Its Old English form "eald" meant "old, aged, ancient, antique, primeval," and it developed from the same Germanic root that gave us "eld," an older English noun for age or a former time. The word has been in English since the earliest recorded Old English, so there was no borrowing or late arrival to speak of. Its relatives are spread widely across Germanic languages. Dutch "oud," German "alt," Swedish "äldre," and Icelandic "aldinn" all carry the same core sense, while the Gothic "alþeis" shows the root in one of the oldest attested Germanic languages. The Latin "altus," meaning "high" or "grown big," is a distant cousin, which is why the German "alt" and the Latin word can look so alike.

Synonyms: ancient, aged, antique, mature, elderly

Antonyms: new, young, fresh, modern, novel