stary

See also: Stary, starý, and Starý

English

Etymology

From stare +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈstɛə.ɹi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈstɛɚ.i/
• (US, Canada, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈstɛɹ.i/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsteː.ɹi/
• (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsteəɹi/
• (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /ˈstiəɹi/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈsteɹɪ/, /ˈsteɹe/
• (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA^(key): /ˈstɜːɹɪ/
• Rhymes: -ɛəɹi
• Homophone: starey

Adjective

stary (comparative starier, superlative stariest)

1. Alternative spelling of starey.
   • 1980, Stephen King, The Mist, Viking Press:

     Buddy Eagleton was ahead of Reppler and he turned to run, his eyes wide and stary.

Anagrams

• T-rays, artsy, satyr, stray, trays, yrast

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *starъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsta.rɨ/
• Rhymes: -arɨ
• Syllabification: sta‧ry

Adjective

stary (comparative staršy, superlative nejstaršy)

1. old

   Antonyms: młody, nowy

   • 1998, Erwin Hannusch, chapter 1, in Niedersorbisch praktisch und verständlich, Bautzen: Domowina Verlag, →ISBN, page 20:

     Tšochu dalej su Stare wiki.

     Somewhat further on is the Old Market.

Declension

Declension of stary

	singular					dual			plural
	masculine		neuter	feminine		virile	nonvirile		virile	nonvirile
	animate	inanimate
nominative vocative	stary		stare	stara		starej			stare
genitive	starego stareg¹			stareje starej¹		stareju			starych
dative	staremu starem¹			starej		staryma			starym
accusative	starego stareg¹	stary	stare	staru		stareju	starej		stare, starych	stare
instrumental	starym			stareju starej¹		staryma			starymi
locative	starem starym²			starej		staryma			starych

¹ poetic, colloquial
² obsolete, dialectal

Derived terms

• starjejšej (“parents”)

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928), “stary”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999), “stary”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Old Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sth₂-ró-s

Proto-Balto-Slavic *stā́ˀras

Proto-Slavic *stàrъ

Old Polish stary

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *stàrъ. First attested in the 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /stariː/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /stari/

Adjective

stary (comparative starszy or starzejszy, superlative nastarszy)

1. old (having existed in the past)
2. old (having existed for a long time)
3. old (that is no longer valid)
4. old (of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years)
5. (of a family member, particularly a sibling) older (having been born before another)

Noun

stary m animacy unattested

1. (nominalized) old person
2. (nominalized, in the plural) parents
3. (nominalized) high rank or position
4. (nominalized) elected head of a rural subdivision

Derived terms

adverbs

• na stare kolana
• od starego czasu
• stara

nouns

• rycerz stary
• stara mać
• stara przysięga
• stare dni
• stare lata
• stare mięsopusty
• starosta
• staroswat
• staroć
• starość
• stary ociec
• stary zakon
• Stary Zakon
• starz
• starzec
• starzy Żydowie
• starzyna
• starzyzna

verbs

• być star lat impf
• starzeć impf

Related terms

adjectives

• podstarzały
• przestarzały
• staradawny
• starodawny
• starościn
• starośćski
• zastarzały
• zstarzały

adverb

• z starodawna

nouns

• podstarości
• postarzenie
• starostwo
• starościna
• starzectwo
• zastarzałość

verbs

• postarzeć pf
• przestarzeć pf
• zastarzeć pf, zastarzawać impf
• zstarać pf
• zstarzeć pf

Descendants

• Polish: stary, story (Southern Greater Poland)
• Silesian: stary

References

• Boryś, Wiesław (2005), “stary”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN
• B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “stary”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Alternative forms

• story (Southern Greater Poland)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sth₂-ró-s

Proto-Balto-Slavic *stā́ˀras

Proto-Slavic *stàrъ

Old Polish stary

Polish stary

Inherited from Old Polish stary.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈsta.rɘ/

• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈsta.rɨ/
• (Greater Poland):
  • (Southern Greater Poland) IPA^(key): [ˈsta.rɘ]
• (Masovia):
  • (Far Masovian) IPA^(key): [ˈsta.rɘ]

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -arɘ
• Syllabification: sta‧ry
• Homophone: Stary

Adjective

stary (comparative starszy, superlative najstarszy, derived adverb staro)

1. old (of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years)

   Synonyms: leciwy, posunięty w latach, sędziwy, starszy, wcześnie urodzony, wiekowy, zaawansowany wiekiem

   Antonym: młody

2. old (characteristic of such a being)

   Synonym: starczy

   Antonym: młody

3. old (having a lot of experience)

   Synonym: doświadczony

4. old (having existed for a long time)

   Synonym: nienowy

   Antonym: nowy

5. old (destroyed or worn-out)

   Synonym: nienowy

   Antonym: nowy

6. old (that is no longer valid)

   Synonym: dawny

   Antonym: nowy

7. old (having existed for a while but not outdated)

   Synonym: dawny

8. old (familiar, having been known to the speaker for a long time)

   Synonym: dawny

9. old (not fresh)

   Synonym: nieświeży

Declension

Declension of stary (hard)

singular					plural
	masculine animate	masculine inanimate	feminine	neuter	virile (= masculine personal)	non-virile
nominative/vocative	stary		stara	stare	starzy	stare
genitive	starego		starej	starego	starych
dative	staremu		starej	staremu	starym
accusative	starego	stary	starą	stare	starych	stare
instrumental	starym		starą	starym	starymi
locative	starym		starej	starym	starych

Derived terms

adjective

• starej daty
• stary jak świat
• stary, ale jary

adverbs

• na stare lata
• po starej znajomości
• starym torem

interjection

• stary koniu

nouns

• stara bieda
• stara gwardiastara krowa
• stara maleńka
• stara panna
• Stare
• stare dzieje
• stare kąty
• stare lata
• stare miasto
• stare pudło
• stare śmieci
• starość
• stary kawaler
• Stary Kontynent
• stary koń
• stary malutki
• stary portfel
• stary styl
• Stary Świat
• Stary Testament
• stary wróbel

proverb

• stara miłość nie rdzewieje
• starego wróbla na plewy nie nabierzesz
• w starym piecu diabeł pali

verbs

• starzeć impf

verbs

• zrzucić starą skórę pf, zrzucać starą skórę impf

Noun

stary m pers (female equivalent stara)

1. (nominalized, colloquial, expressive or dialectal, Far Masovian) old man (father)
2. (nominalized, colloquial, expressive or dialectal, Southern Greater Poland, literally) old man
3. (nominalized, colloquial, expressive or dialectal, Far Masovian) old man (husband)
4. (nominalized, colloquial, expressive) friend, dude
5. (in the plural, nominalized, colloquial) 'rents (one's father and mother)

   Synonyms: rodzice, rodziciele, staruszkowie

Declension

Declension of stary

	singular	plural
nominative	stary	starzy
genitive	starego	starych
dative	staremu	starym
accusative	starego	starych
instrumental	starym	starymi
locative	starym	starych
vocative	stary	starzy

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), stary is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 44 times in scientific texts, 21 times in news, 39 times in essays, 104 times in fiction, and 76 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 284 times, making it the 180th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• stary in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• stary in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Maria Renata Mayenowa; Stanisław Rospond; Witold Taszycki; Stefan Hrabec; Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023), “stary”, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
• “STARY”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 8 January 2010
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814), “stary”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “stary”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1915), “stary”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 6, Warsaw, page 401
• stary in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego
• Wojciech Grzegorzewicz (1894), “stary”, in “O języku ludowym w powiecie przasnyskim”, in Sprawozdania Komisji Językowej Akademii Umiejętności (in Polish), volume 5, Krakow: Akademia Umiejętności, page 122
• Oskar Kolberg (1877), “stary”, in “Rzecz o mowie ludu wielkopolskiego”, in Zbiór wiadomości do antropologii krajowéj (in Polish), volume 1, III (Materyjały etnologiczne), page 31

Silesian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sth₂-ró-s

Proto-Balto-Slavic *stā́ˀras

Proto-Slavic *stàrъ

Old Polish stary

Silesian stary

Inherited from Old Polish stary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsta.rɪ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -arɪ
• Syllabification: sta‧ry

Adjective

stary (comparative starszy, superlative nojstarszy, derived adverb staro)

1. old (of someone or something that has existed for a relatively long time)

   Synonyms: niymody, syńdziwy

   Antonym: mody

2. old (not new)

   Antonym: nowy

3. old (of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years)
4. old (that is no longer valid)

   Synonym: były

   Antonym: nowy

5. old (known to the speaker for a long time)
6. old (having a lot of experience)

   Antonym: świyży

7. old (not fresh)

   Antonym: mody

Declension

Declension of stary

		singular					plural
		masculine		neuter	feminine		virile	nonvirile
		animate	inanimate
nominative		stary		stare	starŏ		starzi	stare
genitive		starego			staryj		starych
dative		starymu			staryj		starym
accusative		starego	stary	stare	starõ		starych	stare
instrumental		starym			starōm		starymi
locative		starym			staryj		starych
vocative		stary		stare	starŏ		starzi	stare

Further reading

• stary in dykcjonorz.eu
• stary in silling.org

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *stàrъ. Cognate with Lower Sorbian nowy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsta.ʀɨ/
• Rhymes: -aʀɨ
• Syllabification: sta‧ry

Adjective

stary (comparative starši, superlative najstarši, absolute superlative nanajstarši, excessive přestary, derived adverb starje)

1. old

   Antonym: nowy

   • 1896, Nowy Zakoń: Do hornjoserbsćiny po rjedźe Vulgaty prelozistaj Jurij Luscanski a Michal Hórnik‎^[2], Z nakladom towaŕstwa ss. Cyrilla a Methocija, page 56:

     Nichtó njepřišiwa zapłatu z noweho sukna na staru drastu, hewak wottorhnje nowa zapłata wot stareho, a dźěra bywa wjetša.

     Nobody sews a patch of new fabric onto old clothes, otherwise the new patch will tear away from the old one, and the hole will get bigger.

Declension

Declension of stary

	singular				dual		plural
	masculine		neuter	feminine	virile	nonvirile	virile	nonvirile
	personal/animal	inanimate
nominative, vocative	stary		stare	stara	staraj	starej	stari	stare
genitive	stareho staroh¹			stareje	stareju		starych
dative	staremu starom¹			starej	starymaj		starym
accusative	stareho staroh¹	stary	stare	staru	stareju	starej	starych	stare
instrumental	starym			starej	starymaj		starymi
locative							starych

¹ Poetic or colloquial.

Further reading

• “stary”, in Mudra corpus [Upper Sorbian–Czech dictionary] (in Czech), 2024–2026
• “stary” in Soblex