eld

Meaning

Noun

1. (dialectal, rare, uncountable) One's age, age in years, period of life.
2. (archaic, poetic, uncountable) Old age, senility; an old person.
3. (archaic, poetic, uncountable) Time; an age, an indefinitely long period of time.
4. (archaic, poetic, uncountable) Former ages, antiquity, olden times.

Adj

Old.

Verb

1. (archaic, dialectal, intransitive, poetic) To age, become or grow old.
2. (archaic, intransitive, poetic) To delay; linger.
3. (archaic, poetic, transitive) To make old, age.

Synonyms

age

old age

years

geezerhood

old

🧓

agedness

antiquity

senescence

ail

oldness

Translations

âge

edad

idade

anzianità

ouderdom

vieillesse

vellesa

anys

edat

سِنّ

età

vecchiaia

vecchiezza

ηλικία

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɛld/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: elde

Inherited from Old English: ieldu

Cognate with Scots: eild

Cognate with Northern Frisian: jelde

Cognate with German: Älte

Cognate with Danish: ælde

Cognate with Icelandic: elli

Cognate with Gothic: 𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍃

Cognate with Old English: alan

In summary

From Middle English elde, from Old English ieldu, eldo, ieldo (“age, period of time; period; time of life, years; mature or old age, eld; an age of the world, era, epoch”), from Proto-West Germanic *aldī, from Proto-Germanic *alþį̄ (“eld, age”), from *aldaz (“grown up, mature, old”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós, from *h₂el- (“to raise, feed”).
Cognate with Scots eild (“age”), North Frisian jelde (“age”), German Älte (“age”), Danish ælde (“eld, age”), Icelandic elli (“eld, age”). Related also to Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌳𐍃 (alds, “generation, age”), Old English alan (“to grow up, nourish”). More at old.