earl

¹ American  

[url] / ɜrl /

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.

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Earl ² American  

[url] / ɜrl /

Or Earle

noun

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

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earl British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of earl

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

Example Sentences

Viewers eventually learn Sophie’s servitude is forced after her parentage is revealed — she’s the illegitimate daughter of an earl.

From Los Angeles Times

“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.

From Literature

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

From Salon

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

From 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.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• aristocrat
• blue blood
• emperor
• patrician