elderdom

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

elderdom

Where it comes from

From Middle English *elderdom, alderdom, from Old English ealdordōm (“greatness, power, authority, lordship, eldership, rule, dominion, magistracy, principality, superiority, preeminence, primacy, government, any official position involving command of others, beginning”), equivalent to elder + -dom. Cognate with West Frisian âlderdom (“eld, old age, antiquity”), German Altertum (“antiquity”), Swedish ålderdom (“eld, age”).

noun

uncountable Authority; dominion. Both of these things Moses fulfilled, when he refused elderdom or authority, [...]
uncountable Preeminence; superiority. The name of one of these was Claudius, who arrogated to himself elderdom over the others, though they by no means allowed his claim of superiority, hut quarrelled with him.
uncountable The authority, rule, or office of an elder. Hence the popular belief that elderdom was most of all at home on Russian soil.
uncountable The state of being an elder, or of being older; elderhood. Thanks to him, I have a better sense of what it takes to morph gracefully into elderdom.
uncountable The role or influence of an elder or elders. The weight of elderdom in our family was like a drapery to be taken for granted. In which anyone could at times gratefully hide.

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"elderdom." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/elderdom. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

elderdom. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/elderdom

Chicago

"elderdom." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/elderdom.

BibTeX

@misc{elderdom_2026,
  title = {elderdom},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/elderdom},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}