oldest

Oldest is the superlative form of the adjective old. It is used to indicate the greatest age within a defined set, or the longest duration or existence among items in a group. The comparative form is older, and the superlative is oldest. For people, the form eldest is also common in traditional or formal usage, and it can carry a nuance of familial or ranking order, though both oldest and eldest may be found in modern writing.

In practice, oldest appears in a wide range of contexts. It can describe tangible objects, places, or organisms, as in the oldest building, the oldest known fossil, or the oldest living tree. It can also apply to time spans or records, such as the oldest continuously inhabited city or the oldest surviving manuscript. When referring to people, careful style choices may favor eldest in formal writing, but oldest is widely accepted for nonhuman subjects.

Etymology and related terms: oldest derives from Old English eald, meaning old, with the suffix -est forming the superlative. Related forms include older (comparative) and elder (an older or senior relation, historically used for people). In modern usage, distinctions are nuanced: older emphasizes a comparison, eldest often emphasizes family or rank, while oldest is the default for nonhuman or abstract references.