старый

Inherited from Old East Slavic старъ (starŭ), from Proto-Slavic *starъ.

стары́й • (starŷ́j)

1. old

Inherited from Old East Slavic старъ (starŭ), from Proto-Slavic *starъ.

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ста́рый • (stáryj) (comparative (по)старе́е or (по)старе́й or (по)ста́рше, superlative са́мый ста́рый, diminutive ста́ренький)

1. old

   Antonyms: (new) но́вый (nóvyj), (young) молодо́й (molodój)

2. ancient, antique

   Synonym: (dated word) ве́тхий (vétxij)

3. olden

• The end-stressed short neuter form старо́ (staró) is used with the meaning "long-known" (of news, information, etc.), and in the expression э́то старо́ как мир (éto staró kak mir, “it's as old as the world”); otherwise, the stem-stressed form ста́ро (stáro) is preferred.

Comparatives (по)ста́рше and (по)старе́е:

• The comparative forms ста́рше (stárše) or поста́рше (postárše) are used for comparing age or rank, e.g.

  Ма́льчик ста́рше де́вочки на два го́да. ― Málʹčik stárše dévočki na dva góda. ― The boy is older than the girl by two years. The forms старе́е (staréje) or постаре́е (postaréje) are used when both objects of comparison are "old", e.g.

  Стари́к стано́вится всё старе́е и старе́е. ― Starík stanóvitsja vsjo staréje i staréje. ― The old man is getting older and older.

• Some sources claim that ста́рше (stárše) or поста́рше (postárše) are only comparatives of ста́рший (stáršij, “elder”), which is itself originally an adjectival comparative of ста́рый (stáryj).

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “старый”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Chernykh, P. Ja. (1993) “старый”, in Историко-этимологический словарь русского языка [Historical-Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), 3rd edition, volume 2 (панцирь – ящур), Moscow: Russian Lang., →ISBN, page 199