auld
English
Etymology
From Scots auld or from Northern Middle English auld, aulde, awld, awlde, ald, alde, from Northumbrian Old English ald, variant of Old English eald (“old, mature, venerable; antique, ancient, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown up; old”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, nourished, matured”). Compare cognate Latin altus (“nourished, raised, grown; tall”). Doublet of old.
Pronunciation
- enPR: ôld, IPA(key): /ɔ(ː)ld/
- (US) IPA(key): /ɔld/
- (UK) IPA(key): /əʊld/, IPA(key): /ɔːld/
- (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /ɑːld/
- (Liverpool) IPA(key): /aːʊl/
- Rhymes: -əʊld, -ɔːld
Adjective
auld (comparative aulder, superlative auldest)
- (archaic, Northern England, Liverpool, Scotland, Ireland) old
Synonyms
- aged, eldern, hoary; see also Thesaurus:old
Related terms
- alderman
- auld birkie
- aulden
- auldfarrand
- auld-fashioned
- auld lang syne
- auld-warld
- auld wives' tongues
- eld
- elder
- old
Further reading
- “auld”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “auld”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “auld”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “auld”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Auld”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volumes I (A–B), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 564, column 2.
- William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “auld”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volume I, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 381, column 1.
Scots
Etymology
From Northern Middle English auld, aulde, awld, awlde, ald, alde, from Northumbrian Old English ald, variant of Old English eald (“old, mature, venerable; antique, ancient, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic *ald, from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown up; old”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós (“grown, nourished, matured”). Compare cognate Latin altus (“nourished, raised, grown; tall”).
Pronunciation
- (Central Scots, Southern Scots) IPA(key): /ɔl(d)/
- (Doric Scots, Southern Scots, cat–caught merger) IPA(key): /al(d)/
Derived terms
- Auld Clootie
- Auld Enemy
- auld lang syne
- auld manny
- Auld Reekie
- auld-farrant
- auld-fashioned
- auld-warld
- aulden
- auldness
- auldrife
Further reading
- “auld”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “auld” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.