erstwhile

Etymology

It is formed from English erst + while,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the second part being the adverb.^[2][3][5] Erst, now obsolete, meant first, formerly or once,^[3][6] and goes back to Middle English erest (“earliest, earlier, former”),^[3][6] from Old English ærest (“soonest, earliest”), the superlative of ær,^[3][6] the source of ere.^[3][6] Etymonline compares Old Saxon erist, Old High German erist and German erst.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Some while ago, formerly: 1569, in Spenser's translation of du Bellay's sonnets.^[2][3][4] Etymonline dates it to the 1560s,^[6] and Dictionary.com to 1560–70.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The adverb is now archaic,^[2][5][8] although the Shorter Oxford quotes W. Golding and R. Scruton using it in the sense "hitherto".^[5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged separates three shades of it: in a time long past, a short while ago, and until then.^[4] The OED also records a form erstwhiles in the same sense.^[2] The adjective "former" is much younger: it grew out of the adverb,^[3] and is first recorded in 1903, in A. McNeill's Egregious English.^[2][3][6][4] The OED labels the adjective literary and compares whilom.^[2] It is now the usual use: Collins puts it first, and marks only the adverb as archaic.^[8]

Timeline

• 1569 – adverb, some while ago, formerly.^[2][3][4]
• 1903 – adjective, former, one-time.^[2][3][4][6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Former, one-time: my erstwhile colleagues at the mill.^[8][4][5]
2. Existing or in effect until then or now; previous: the erstwhile owners of the land.^[4]

Adverb

1. (archaic) In the past; formerly, once.^[2][8][4][5]
2. (archaic) Until then or now; hitherto.^[4][5]

Related words

• erst
• ere
• while
• whilom

Usage notes

The OED notes that the stress of the word is variable.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins