the.com/eldest
The first child, drafted unwillingly into management at age four.
means The oldest of three or more people, especially the firstborn among siblings.
from A superlative of 'old,' from Old English 'eald' (old) — the same root that gives us 'elder' and 'alderman.' English keeps two ladders of comparison here: the everyday 'old, older, oldest,' and the older, more dignified 'old, elder, eldest,' where the vowel shifts under the weight of the suffix. That second ladder now mostly clings to family — your 'eldest' sibling, never your 'eldest' car — a small grammatical relic of when age itself conferred rank.
- test subject
- Parents practice rookie mistakes entirely on you
- unpaid babysitter
- Younger siblings raised partly by committee of one
- trailblazer tax
- Every privilege fought for, then handed down free
- birth order
- Studies link firstborns to higher average IQ
- the standard
- Everyone else measured against your old report cards