old
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
3 characters
Language
English
word origin
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "old", 3-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "old" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "old" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
old is anEnglishadj. It means: Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time. Pronounced /ˈəʊld/. It ranks #174 in English word frequency. Often confused with on and or.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | old |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adj |
| IPA | /ˈəʊld/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #174 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for old is 3 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈəʊld/. Corpus data places it at rank #174 in overall English word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 17 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for old in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable English patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "on", "or", "op", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English old, oold, from Old English ald, eald (“old, aged, ancient, antique, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown-up”), originally a participle form, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, t… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is old, spelled O-L-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
- 2Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
- 3Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
- 4Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
- 5Having been used and thus no longer new or unused.
- 6Having existed or lived for the specified time.
- 7Of an earlier time.
- 8Of an earlier time.
- 9Of an earlier time.
- 10Of an earlier time.
- 11Of an earlier time.
- 12Tiresome after prolonged repetition.
- 13Said of subdued colors, particularly reds, pinks and oranges, as if they had faded over time.
- 14A grammatical intensifier, often used in describing something positive, and combined with another adjective.
- 15Indicating affection and familiarity.
- 16Designed for a mature audience; unsuitable for children below a certain age.
- 17Excessive, abundant.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English old, oold, from Old English ald, eald (“old, aged, ancient, antique, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown-up”), originally a participle form, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, tall, big”). Cognates Cognate with Scots aald, auld (“old”), Yola yola, yolaw, yold, yole (“old”), North Frisian ool, ual, uuil, uul, üülj (“old”), Saterland Frisian oold (“old”), West Frisian âld (“old”), Alemannic German altu, oalt, oalts, olt, àltà (“old”), Bavarian oid (“old”), Central Franconian alt, aod, auw, oot (“old”), Cimbrian, German alt (“old”), Dutch oud, oudt (“old”), German Low German old, oolt (“old”), Luxembourgish al (“old”), Mòcheno òlt (“old”), Vilamovian aołd (“old”), Yiddish אַלט (alt, “old”), Danish ældre (“elderly”), Faroese eldri (“elder, older”), Icelandic aldinn (“old”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk eldre (“elderly”), Swedish äldre (“elderly”), Crimean Gothic alt (“old”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (alþeis, “old”), Latin altus (“high, tall, grown big, lofty”). Related to eld.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Frequency rank: #174 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter O in our English index: