older
/ˈoʊldɚ/adjective
older is spelled O-L-D-E-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 83 times per million words in written English, the 1,272nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, older means “elderly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in older?
| Letters | 5: O-L-D-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 83 times per million words; the 1,272nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; 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 older?
Older appears 83 times per million words in written English, the 1,272nd 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 older?
- UK /ˈəʊldə/
- US /ˈoʊldɚ/
Older has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-older.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with older?
7 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as older from its last stressed vowel (/oʊldəɹ/):
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).
What does older mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
elderly
The thoughtful lad helped an older lady across the street.
- 2
comparative form of old: more old, elder, senior
My older brother and I are Catholic twins. He’s older by eleven months, not quite a year older than me.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).