erstwhile

WOTD – 11 June 2009    

English

Etymology

erst +‎ while

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈɜː(ɹ)st.waɪl/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɝst.waɪl/

Adverb

erstwhile (not comparable)

1. Formerly; in the past.

Synonyms

• erewhile

Translations

erstwhile — see formerly

Adjective

erstwhile (not comparable)

1. (literary, law) Former, previous.
   • 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, The Disappearance of Count Collini^[1]:

     “Scarcely had Alice reached her twentieth birthday, than she gave her erstwhile fiancée [sic] his formal congé. […]”

Synonyms

• (former, previous): former, once, previous, quondam, onetime
• See also Wikisaurus:former

Translations

former, previous

• Czech: bývalý (cs), někdejší (cs)
• Dutch: voormalig (nl), vroeger (nl), toenmalig (nl)
• Finnish: varhempi (fi), entinen (fi), aiempi (fi)
• French: ancien (fr), d'autrefois (fr)

• German: vormalig (de), ehemalig (de), früher (de)
• Russian: былой (ru) (byloj), прежний (ru) (prežnij)
• Serbo-Croatian: пређашње (sh) c
• Swedish: tidigare (sv), föregående (sv), förre (sv)