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. :tick:
Sam is elder than Ed. :cross:

Sam is the older brother. :tick:
Sam is the elder brother. :tick:

~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. :tick:
Sam is elder than Ed. :cross:

Sam is the older brother. :tick:
Sam is the elder brother. :tick:

~R