erst
/ɝst/obsolete
erst is spelled E-R-S-T: 4 letters. It appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 118,441st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, erst means “First” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in erst?
| Letters | 4: E-R-S-T |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 15 million words; the 118,441st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is erst?
Erst appears about once in every 15 million words in written English, the 118,441st most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce erst?
- US /ɝst/
- UK /ɜːst/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-erst.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with erst?
7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as erst from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹst/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: rest, tres.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of erst
- arste
- yerst
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does erst mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
obsoleteFirst.
adverb
- 1
obsoleteFirst of all, before (some other specified thing).
- 2
obsoleteSooner (than); before.
- 3
archaicFormerly, once, erstwhile.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does erst come from?
From Middle English erste, from Old English ǣresta (“first”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist (“earliest, first”), equivalent to ere + -est. Cognate with North Frisian iarst, iáárs, jarst, jest (“first”), West Frisian earst (“first”), Dutch eerste (“first”), German erste (“first”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).