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 hoped Ashton would give up, but he had his spies watching us, always. Some awful baroness . . . an earl of something or other . . . ,” Mater Lumley said.

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

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

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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.

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

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Related Words

• aristocrat 
• blue blood 
• emperor 
• patrician