meerder

Meerder is a Dutch noun that appears infrequently as a standalone term in modern usage. Its range of meanings depends on historical and dialect context, and in everyday language the concept it might express is usually conveyed with other words such as meerderheid (majority) or meerderjarig (of legal age). As a result, the bare form "meerder" is uncommon and largely confined to older texts or to compounds, rather than functioning as a distinct, widely used word.

Etymology and form: The noun seems to be built from the adjective meer (more) with the productive agent-noun suffix -der, a common pattern in Dutch. In older usage, this could yield senses related to an adult or an increase, but those senses are largely archaic today.

Contemporary usage: In modern Dutch, referents to an adult are normally expressed with meerderjarige rather than a standalone meerder. The concept of a majority is expressed with meerderheid. The standalone word, when encountered, typically reflects historical or regional varieties rather than current standard language.

Proper names and rare occurrences: Meerder also occurs as a surname or in toponymy, but it is not common and has no widely recognized figures or places that anchor the term in contemporary reference works. In such uses, any associated meaning is not connected to a general linguistic sense of the word.

See also: Meerderheid; Meerdere (several); Meerderjarig.