elder1

 
Pronunciation: /ˈɛldə/

adjective

  • (of one or more out of a group of associated people) of a greater age: my elder daughter the elder of the two sons
  • (the Elder) used to distinguish between related famous people with the same name: Pitt the Elder

noun

  • 1 (one's elders) people who are older than one: schoolchildren were no less fascinated than their elders
  • (one's elder) a person who is older than one by a specified length of time: she was two years his elder
  • 2 (often elders) a leader or senior figure in a tribe or other group: a council of village elders
  • an official in the early Christian Church, or of various Protestant Churches and sects: he left the Church of which he had been an elder
  • historical a member of a senate or governing body.

Derivatives

eldership

noun

Origin:

Old English ieldra, eldra, of Germanic origin; related to German älter, also to eld and old