Alter
German, noun
Alter is spelled A-L-T-E-R (5 letters) and appears 186 times per million words in written German, the 460th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Alter is a German neuter noun meaning “age, old age” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a strong genitive/dative singular of Alte. In lower case, alter is a different word: “strong/mixed nominative masculine singular”. On this page, älter is a different word: “comparative degree of alt”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “alter Mann”.
What does Alter mean in English?
noun
- 1
neuterage, old age
- 2
neuterantiquity
- 3
neuterepoch, age
noun
- 1
masculinenominalization of alt (“someone or something old or bygone”)
- 2
masculineold man; old person
- 3
colloquialmasculinemate, bloke (UK); dude, guy (US); a somewhat intimate or mildly dismissive word for a man, especially but not exclusively used as a vocative
Alter! Komm zurück, wir müssen hier links.
interjection
- 1
colloquialslangman, dude, mate; used for emphasis
Alter, was denn hier los?
noun
- 1
femininestrong genitive/dative singular
- 2
femininestrong genitive plural
adjective
- 1
masculinestrong/mixed nominative masculine singular
- 2
femininestrong genitive/dative feminine singular
- 3
strong genitive plural
adjective
- 1
comparative degree of alt
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. alter Mann 2. alte Person unbestimmten Geschlechts 3. für den Vater 4. für den Ehemann oder Lebensgefährten
noun: 1. Dauer der gezählten, gemessenen oder ermittelten Zeitspanne, während welcher eine Sache, ein Gegenstand oder ein Lebewesen existiert 2. Bezeichnung für den letzten erreichbaren Lebensabschnitt eines Menschen
interjection: 1. Ausdruck emotionaler Erregung
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of Alter
- Alters genitive
- Altern dative definite plural
- der Alte definite nominative
- Alten genitive
- Alte plural
- die Alten definite plural
- Altem dative singular strong
- Alda alternative
- Alterchen diminutive
- des Alten genitive singular
- der Alten genitive plural
- dem Alten dative singular
- den Alten dative plural
- ein Alter nominative singular
- keine Alten nominative plural
- eines Alten genitive singular
- keiner Alten genitive plural
- Älte variant
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to Alter
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is Alter in German?
Alter appears 186 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).