The difference between "older" and "elder"

[Charmaine_CA]

Hello teacher, I'm Charmaine Alaina. I had some difficulties about the difference between "older" and "elder" Would you please to help me? Thank you very much.

[RonBee]

Question: I have been having some difficulties telling the difference between elder and older. Would you help me?

Answer: Whether there is any difference between the two depends on the sentence.

Sam is older than Ed.
Sam is elder than Ed.

Sam is the older brother.
Sam is the elder brother.

~R

[Scorpion]

I guess, simply put, older is the comparative form of old (old, older, oldest). Elder isn't a comparative, since there isn't a word such as eld (as far as I know).

[matilda]

Elder means older but it is used in comp[a]rative form. Although there is no word call[e]d ELD, we use ELDER for comparison especially in written form.

[Casiopea]

Additionally,

In comparisons between two persons, elder means “older” but not necessarily “old”:

My elder sister is sixteen; my younger, twelve.

Eldest is used when three or more persons are compared:

He is the eldest of four brothers.

In other contexts elder does denote relatively advanced age but with the added component of respect for a person's achievement, as in an elder statesman. If age alone is to be expressed, one should use older or elderly rather than elder:

A survey of older Americans; an elderly waiter.

Unlike elder and its related forms, the adjectives old, older, and oldest are applied to things as well as to persons.

elder 1. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

[iloveu]

RonBee's answer is what I was taught in my school years.

Question: I have been having some difficulties telling the difference between elder and older. Would you help me?

Answer: Whether there is any difference between the two depends on the sentence.

Sam is older than Ed.
Sam is elder than Ed.

Sam is the older brother.
Sam is the elder brother.

~R