hoary

C2+ Topic:Time

US /ˈhɔri/ UK /ˈhɔːri/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
grayish-white with age; ancient and overfamiliar

He repeated the same hoary joke at every dinner.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · grayish-white with age;... gray grizzled white venerable ancient aged hackneyed trite

Opposites

young fresh novel new

Word family

Derived forms hoariness

Related forms hoar hoarfrost

Etymology

From hoar (Old English hār 'gray, hoary, venerable', from Proto-Germanic *hairaz) + the adjectival suffix -y.

hār osx *hairaz Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Time Word Formation & Derivatives

# hoary

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˈhɔri
**IPA (UK):** ˈhɔːri

## Meanings
1. grayish-white with age; ancient and overfamiliar

## Examples
- He repeated the same hoary joke at every dinner.

## Synonyms
- gray
- grizzled
- white
- venerable
- ancient
- aged
- hackneyed
- trite

## Antonyms
- young
- fresh
- novel
- new

## Derived Forms
- hoariness

## Related Forms
- hoar
- hoarfrost

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hār
- Root: *hairaz

## Etymology
From hoar (Old English hār 'gray, hoary, venerable', from Proto-Germanic *hairaz) + the adjectival suffix -y.

## AI Etymology
Hoary comes from hoar (Old English hār 'gray, hoary, venerable', from Proto-Germanic *hairaz) + the adjectival suffix -y. The historical trail runs through Old English hār and Proto-Germanic *hairaz. Morphologically, the surface form is analyzable into prefixes, suffixes, compounds, or participial endings that carry part of the history. In modern use it means grayish-white with age; ancient and overfamiliar. Derived formations include hoariness; related forms include hoar, hoarfrost.

## Topics
- Time
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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hoary

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