different between old vs unique

English

Alternative forms

• ol', ol, ole
• olde (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English old, ald, from Old English ald, eald (“old, aged, ancient, antique, primeval”), from Proto-Germanic *aldaz (“grown-up”), originally a participle form, from Proto-Indo-European *h?eltós (“grown, tall, big”). Cognate with Scots auld (“old”), North Frisian ool, ual, uul (“old”), Saterland Frisian oold (“old”), West Frisian âld (“old”), Dutch oud (“old”), Low German old (“old”), German alt (“old”), Swedish äldre (“older, elder”), Icelandic eldri (“older, elder”), Latin altus (“high, tall, grown big, lofty”). Related to eld.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???ld/, /???ld/, /???ld/
• (US) enPR: ?ld, IPA^(key): /?o?ld/
• Rhymes: -??ld

Adjective

old (comparative older or elder, superlative (US, dialectal) oldermost or oldest or eldest)

1. Of an object, concept, relationship, etc., having existed for a relatively long period of time.
   1. Of a living being, having lived for most of the expected years.

   2. Of a perishable item, having existed for most, or more than its shelf life.

2. Having been used and thus no longer new or unused.

3. Having existed or lived for the specified time.

4. (heading) Of an earlier time.
   1. Former, previous.
      • 1994, Michael Grumley, Life Drawing

        But over my old life, a new life had formed.

   2. That is no longer in existence.

   3. Obsolete; out-of-date.

   4. Familiar.
      • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 37:

        Adrian thought it worth while to try out his new slang. ‘I say, you fellows, here's a rum go. Old Biffo was jolly odd this morning. He gave me a lot of pi-jaw about slacking and then invited me to tea. No rotting! He did really.’

   5. (Britain) Being a graduate or alumnus of a school, especially a public school.
5. Tiresome after prolonged repetition.

6. Said of subdued colors, particularly reds, pinks and oranges, as if they had faded over time.
7. A grammatical intensifier, often used in describing something positive. (Mostly in idioms like good old, big old and little old, any old and some old.)

8. (obsolete) Excessive, abundant.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 5 Scene 2:

     URSULA: Madam, you must come to your uncle. Yonder's old coil at home: it is proved, my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the prince and Claudio mightily abused;

Synonyms

• (having existed for a long period of time): ancient, long in the tooth; see also Thesaurus:old
• (having lived for many years): aged, ageing / aging, elderly, long in the tooth, on in years; see also Thesaurus:elderly
• (having existed or lived for the specified time): aged, of age
• (former): erstwhile, ex-, former, one-time, past; see also Thesaurus:former
• (out-of-date): antiquated, obsolete (of words), outdated; see also Thesaurus:obsolete

Antonyms

• (having existed for a long period of time): brand new, fresh, new
• (having lived for many years): young
• (former): current, latest, new

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

old (plural olds)

1. (with the, invariable plural only) People who are old; old beings; the older generation, taken as a group.

   A civilised society should always look after the old in the community.

2. (slang) A person older than oneself, especially an adult in relation to a teenager.
3. (slang, most often plural) One's parents.

   I had to sneak out to meet my girlfriend and tell the olds I was going to the library.

Anagrams

• DLO, DOL, Dol, LDO, LOD, Lo'd, LoD, Lod, dol, lod

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l?/, [??l?]

Etymology 1

From Old Norse ?ld, from Proto-Germanic *aldiz, cognate with Gothic ???????????????? (alds).

Noun

old c (singular definite olden, not used in plural form)

1. (archaic) period, age, generation
   • 1813, N.F.S. Grundtvig, Kristjan den sjette, in: Poetiske Skrifter, vol. 3, p. 306

   • 1805, Adam Oehleschläger, Isefjorden / https://kalliope.org/da/text/oehlenschlaeger2019020350

2. (archaic, rare) antiquity
   • 1891, Holger Drachmann, Vildt og tæmmet, 299

Inflection

Derived terms

References

• “Old,1” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Etymology 2

Clipping of oldtidskundskab.

Noun

old c (uninflected)

1. Classical Civilization (a course in secondary school)

   Synonym: oldtidskundskab

Derived terms

• oldlærer

References

• “old” in Den Danske Ordbog

German Low German

Alternative forms

• oold, ol, olt

Etymology

From Middle Low German ôlt. The A became an O through the effect of the velarised L in the same manner as in Dutch oud.

Cognate with English old, Dutch oud, German alt, West Frisian âld.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???t/

Adjective

old (comparative öller, superlative öllst)

1. old

Declension

Descendants

• ? German: oll

Hungarian

Etymology

From Proto-Uralic *a?a- (“to loosen, open (up), untie”) + -d (frequentative suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?old]
• Homophone: oldd
• Rhymes: -old

Verb

old

1. (transitive) to solve
2. (transitive) to untie

Conjugation

Derived terms

(With verbal prefixes):

References

Further reading

• old in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

Middle Low German

Adjective

old

1. Alternative spelling of ôlt.

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French unique.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ju??ni?k/
• Rhymes: -i?k

Adjective

unique (comparative uniquer or more unique, superlative uniquest or most unique)

1. (not comparable) Being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched.

   Synonyms: one of a kind, sui generis, singular

2. Of a feature, such that only one holder has it.
3. Particular, characteristic.
4. (proscribed) Of a rare quality, unusual.

Usage notes

• The comparative and superlative forms uniquer or more unique and uniquest or most unique, as well as the use of unique with modifiers as in fairly unique and very unique, are grammatically proscribed, with the reasoning that either something is unique or it is not.

Derived terms

• uniquely
• uniqueness
• uniquity

Related terms

• unicity
• one-of-a-kind
• inimitable

Translations

Noun

unique (plural uniques)

1. A thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled; one of a kind.
   • a. 1859, Thomas De Quincey, Language

     The phoenix, the unique of birds.

Translations

Further reading

• unique in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• unique in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “unique” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ?nicus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /y.nik/

Adjective

unique (plural uniques)

1. unique
2. only

Derived terms

Related terms

• un

Descendants

• ? Danish: unik
• ? Dutch: uniek
• ? Norwegian Bokmål: unik
• ? Norwegian Nynorsk: unik
• ? Swedish: unik
• ? Turkish: ünik

Further reading

• “unique” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).