earl

¹

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noun

1. a British nobleman of a rank below that of marquis and above that of viscount: called count for a time after the Norman conquest. The wife of an earl is a countess.

2. (in Anglo-Saxon England) a governor of one of the great divisions of England, including East Anglia, Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex.

Earl

²

Or Earle

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noun

1. a male given name: from the old English word meaning “noble.”

earl

/ ɜːl /

noun

1. Female equivalent: countess. (in the British Isles) a nobleman ranking below a marquess and above a viscount

2. (in Anglo-Saxon England) a royal governor of any of the large divisions of the kingdom, such as Wessex

Word History and Origins

Origin of earl¹

before 900; Middle English erl, Old English eorl; cognate with Old Saxon erl man, Old Norse jarl chieftain

Word History and Origins

Origin of earl¹

Old English eorl; related to Old Norse jarl chieftain, Old Saxon erl man

Example Sentences

We may not be earls or billionaires, but we can eat like them.

Read more on Salon

But the longed-for comeuppance of the brutish earl is as much an attraction to the series as Ms. Peckham.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The earl is shocked to discover that the family would have neighbors and that he’d have to “go along” the hallway to bed rather than ascend the stairs as he would in a grand home.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

He inherited it following his father's death in 2015, and began to think more deeply about what it meant to be an earl.

Read more on BBC

Its inhabitants are those of “there will always be an England” England: stern vicars, timid curates, lords and earls, penniless titled wastrels living on allowances from their uncles, imperious aunts, upper-crust twits.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• aristocrat 
• blue blood 
• emperor 
• patrician