elder

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (Australia) IPA: /ˈeldə/, SAMPA: /"eld@/
• (RP) IPA: /ˈɛldə/, SAMPA: /"Eld@/
• (GenAm) IPA: /ˈɛldɚ/, SAMPA: /"Eld@`/
• Rhymes: -ɛldə(r)

Etymology 1

From Old English eldra.

Adjective

elder (not comparable)

1. Comparative of old; greater than another in age or seniority.
   • The elder of the two was also an elder statesman

Translations

greater than another in age or seniority

Armenian: մեծ (hy) (meç) Bulgarian: по-възрастен (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 年長的 (cmn), 年长的 (cmn) (niánzhǎng-de) Croatian: elder (hr) m. Esperanto: pli maljuna French: aîné (fr)

German: älterer (de) Japanese: 年上の (ja) (としうえの, toshiue-no), 年長の (ja) (ねんちょうの, nenchō-no) Russian: старший (ru) (stáršij) Slovene: starejši (sl) Spanish: anciano (es), adulto mayor Vietnamese: cả (vi)

Noun

elder (plural elders)

1. An older person or an older member, usually a leader, of some community.

   We were presented to the village elder.

2. An officer of a church, sometimes having teaching responsibilities
3. (US, Mormonism) The lowest office in the Melchizedek priesthood.

   After being a member of the Church for a while, Bill was ordained to the office of elder.

4. (US, Mormonism) One ordained to the office of elder.

   Jack had been an elder for only a few days when he received a new calling.

5. (US, Mormonism) Male missionary, title for a male missionary; title for a general authority.

   The elders are coming over for dinner tonight.

   One of the long-time leaders in the Church is Elder Packer.

6. (paganism) A priest or priestess in the modern pagan tradition known as Asatru or Heathenry.

Derived terms

• elderdom
• elderhood
• elderly
• eldership
• elder statesman
• elder stateswoman

Translations

older member or leader of a community

Chinese: Dungan: лохан (lohan) m. Mandarin: 耆英 (zh) Croatian: starješina (hr) m. Czech: stařešina (cs) Dutch: ouderling (nl) m. Icelandic: öldungur (is) m. Irish: sinsear (ga) m. Japanese: としより (ja) (toshiyori) Korean: 어른 (ko) (eoreun)

Luhya: omulosi Meru: mukoru Portuguese: ancião (pt) m., anciã (pt) f. Russian: старейшина (ru) (staréjšina) m., староста (ru) (stárosta) m. Scottish Gaelic: èildear (gd) m., foirfeach (gd) m. Slovene: starešina (sl) m., starosta (sl) m. Swahili: wazee (sw), mzee (sw) Tajik: please add this translation if you can Thai: ผู้อาวุโส (phoo-a-wu-so), ผู้สูงอายุ (phoo-soong-a-yoo)

Melchizedek priesthood office, missionary, title

Japanese: 長老（ちょうろう, chōrō） Russian: старейшина (ru) (star'éjšina) m.

Swahili: wazee (sw)

Etymology 2

From Middle English eldre, eller, from Old English ellærn, from Proto-Germanic *el(d)ernaz (confer Low German Elhorn, Elloorn), adjectival from Proto-Indo-European *h₁edʰ-l-i 'spruce, fir' (compare Middle Irish aidlen 'silver fir', Latin ebulus 'dwarf elder', Old Prussian addle 'fir', Czech jedle 'silver fir', Ancient Greek ἐλάτη (elate, “silver fir”)

Noun

elder (plural elders)

1. A small tree of the genus Sambucus having white flowers in a cluster, and purple berries.

Derived terms

• elderberry

Translations

small tree

Albanian: shtog (sq) m. Arabic: الخَمَان (ar) (al-khamān) Bulgarian: бъз (bg) (bǎz) Catalan: saüc (ca) m. Croatian: bazga (hr) Czech: bez (cs) m. Danish: hyld (da) c. Dutch: vlier (nl) Finnish: selja (fi) French: sureau (fr) m. German: Holunder (de) m. Hungarian: bodza (hu) Icelandic: yllir (is) m. Ido: sambuko (io) Italian: sambuco (it) m.

Japanese: 接骨木 (ja) (ニワトコ, にわとこ, niwatoko) Latin: sambūcus (la) m. Norwegian: hyll (no) m. Polish: bez (pl) m. Romanian: soc (ro) m. Russian: бузина (ru) (buziná) f. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ба̀зга (sh) f., зова (sh) f. Roman: bàzga (sh) f., zova (sh) f. Slovene: bezeg (sl) m. Spanish: saúco (es) m. Swahili: wazee (sw) Swedish: fläder (sv) c. Turkish: mürver (tr)

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Basque

Noun

elder

1. slime