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Glite Dictionary
👧 Oldest among siblings 👦 The oldest child
eldest

eldest

1 1.4
The oldest child in a family
  • noun
  • /ˈɛldɪst/
translation icon : mayor
  • Lewis associates with himself his eldest son, Lothar.
  • eldest brother

Did you go to hug, stroke, kiss one of your children goodnight and your eldest said you can't do that.

Examples

  • So my parents, my eldest brother had a celebration.

  • I do this out of respect and love for our Eldest, Ahtenhurat.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Let me tell you, my eldest son is a retired orthopedic surgeon.

  • Al Mutasim was succeeded by his eldest son, Al Wafiq.

  • And so my eldest daughter combined my name Lynn with Ninja and came up with Lindja.

  • We could not live without you, Mama Cocha, the Eldest Mother, Goddess of Peru.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Now Jackie Will Sayed and Muhammad al Sayed is the eldest of six born to a vegetable salesman and the smartest, wisest woman I've ever met in my life.

  • Let me tell you, my eldest son is a retired orthopedic surgeon.

  • Al Mutasim was succeeded by his eldest son, Al Wafiq.

  • So our eldest daughter was privately adopted.

Synonyms

firstborn
vseldest
44 2.7

A child born first in a family

is the oldest child by current age rather than birth order

Compounds

eldest hand
  • Archaic
1 9.2

The player sitting immediately to the dealer's left who plays first

Surface Forms

eldest singular
eldests plural

Morphology

eldest = elder (semi-transparent) = old + est

The form is a regular superlative built on 'elder', but the irregular stem and the noun-like sense for a child make it only partly transparent.

Etymology

The word eldest comes from the simple parts old and -est, where -est means 'most' or 'first'. So eldest means 'most old' or 'firstborn', which is why it names the oldest child in a family.