Word Confusion: Elder versus Older

Posted October 28, 2021 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
9 Sept 2022

I am the elder of all my sisters, and I’m definitely feeling older these days. Sigh.

Both elder (also a noun) and older are adjectives that imply having greater age than something or someone else. However, elder describes people only, e.g., if there is someone who is older than you in your family or someone who has a close relationship with you, you should use elder.

Older compares one person or thing to another — that toy is older than this one. [Oldest is the superlative.]

You may also want to explore “Elder versus Eldest“.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Elder	Older
Elder Flower by Capri23auto is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay.	Older Couple by Sofia Shultz Photography is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay.
Part of Grammar:
Comparative adjective ¹; Noun ¹, ² Plural for the noun: elders	Adjective
Comparative Adjective: [Of one or more out of a group of associated people] Of a greater age ¹ [the Elder] Used to distinguish between related famous people with the same name Noun: [Usually elders] A person of greater age than someone specified ¹ A person of advanced age [Often elders] A leader or senior figure in a tribe or other group An official in the early Christian Church or of various Protestant and Presbyterian Churches [Also elderberry] A small tree or shrub with pithy stems, typically having white flowers and bluish-black or red berries ²	Having lived for a long time No longer young Made or built long ago Possessed or used for a long time [Informal; mainly US] Boring or tiresome, especially as a result of repetition or overfamiliarity [Attrib.] Belonging only or chiefly to the past Former or previous Used to refer to the first of two or more similar things Dating from far back Long-established or known [Of a form of a language] As used in former or earliest times [In combination] Of a specified age [As noun, in combination] A person or animal of the age specified [Informal; Attrib.] Used to express affection, familiarity, or contempt
Examples:
Comparative Adjective: Patsy is my elder daughter. Sam is the elder of the two sons. Pliny the Elder wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. Noun: Schoolchildren were no less fascinated than their elders. Take a bit of advice from your elders and betters. She’s the elder of the two. The council of village elders are debating the issue. The Elders in our church are conflict resolvers. We should plant some elder bushes, so we can make elderflower wine.	The older man lay propped up on cushions while the other sat on the floor. We’re in the older part of town. He only gave his older clothes away. I wish she’d shut up — it’s getting older than dirt. The valuation under the older rating system was inexact. The mating bond of the Immortals and deities and the blood bond of the demons were the two oldest bonds, unbreakable under the Immortal Code and from the laws older than the Code. We’re old friends and getting older. Younger people have less wealth than older ones, on average. The iPhone 11 is older than the iPhone 13. He was fourteen years older. My older brother and I are Catholic twins. He’s older by eleven months, not quite a year older than me. How much older are you? “Good old Mom,” she said, “and her sister is my even older ‘Mom’.”
Derivatives:
Adverb: elderly Noun: elderberry, eldercare, elderflower, elderliness, eldership	Adjective: old, oldest, oldish Noun: oldness
History of the Word:
Old English ieldra, eldra, of Germanic origin and related to the German älter, also to eld and old. Old English ellærn and related to the Middle Low German ellern, elderne.	Old English ald, is of West Germanic origin and related to the Dutch oud and the German alt, from an Indo-European root meaning adult, shared by the Latin alere meaning nourish.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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