Other forms: oldsters
An oldster is a person well on in years, spoken of informally but without mockery. A cheerful oldster.
It is light rather than rude, and is not a word anybody uses of themselves. An oldster was coined as a joke on youngster and has kept that shape ever since.
1nounoldsterA person well on in years, of either sex, spoken of informally but without mockery.
“A few oldsters were still dancing at two in the morning.”
oldster is a person.
Old plus -ster, modelled on youngster; attested from the early nineteenth century, first in naval slang for an older midshipman.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂el- (grow)
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂el- — grown, tall, big
Proto-Germanic
*aldaz — grown-up
Proto-West Germanic
*ald
Old English
ald
Middle English
old
English
old
English, today
oldster
Built from
From old + -ster, modelled after youngster. Attested from early 19th c. old Middle English old, oold, from Old English ald, eald (“old, aged, ancient, antique, primeval”), from Proto-West Germanic ald, from Proto-Germanic aldaz (“grown-up”), originally a participle form, from Proto-Indo-European h₂el- (“grown, tall, big”). 2 Cognate with Scots aald, auld (“old”), yol yola, yolaw, yold, yole (“old”), frr ool, ual, uuil, uul, üülj (“old”), stq oold (“old”), West Frisian âld (“old”), gsw altu, oalt, oalts, olt, àltà (“old”), bar oid (“old”), gmw-cfr alt, aod, auw, oot (“old”), cim and German alt (“old”), Dutch oud (“old”), German Low German old, oolt (“old”), lb al (“old”), mhn òlt (“old”), wym aołd (“old”), Yiddish אַלט (“old”), Danish ældre (“elderly”), Faroese eldri (“elder, older”), Icelandic aldinn (“old”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk eldre (“elderly”), Swedish äldre (“elderly”), gme-cgo alt (“old”), Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹𐍃 (“old”), Latin altus (“high, tall, grown big, lofty”). Related to eld.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA