old age
"old-age" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“old age” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The latter part of life, when one is an older adult; especially, the years from age 65 onward.
Corpus desk
Index EN-old-age · old age · English
old age · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | old age |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “old age” in English
Rare enough to double-check
old age is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
old age has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English olde age, eld age; compare earlier Middle English olde elde (“old age”), alderelde (“old age”), equivalent to old + age. Displaced wholly non-native Middle English vilesse (“old age”) (borrowed from Old French villesce, vieillece (“old a… The correct English form is old age, spelled O-L-D- -A-G-E.
Definition
- 1The latter part of life, when one is an older adult; especially, the years from age 65 onward.
- 2A cause of death representing natural death through the expected accumulation of health problems in advanced age.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how old age appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
People often become hard of hearing in old age.
A ripe old age.
Etymology
From Middle English olde age, eld age; compare earlier Middle English olde elde (“old age”), alderelde (“old age”), equivalent to old + age. Displaced wholly non-native Middle English vilesse (“old age”) (borrowed from Old French villesce, vieillece (“old age”)) and senectute (“old age”) (from Latin senectūs (“old age”)).
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.