alderliefest
Syllables: al·der·lief·est/ˌɔːldəˈliːfɪst/US/ˈɔldəɹˌlifɪst/
alderliefest adjective: often used as an epithet when addressing someone: most beloved.
Adjective
alderliefest (not comparable)
- Often used as an epithet when addressing someone: most beloved.
- VVith you mine Alder liefeſt Soueraigne, / Makes me the bolder to ſalute my King, / VVith ruder termes, ſuch as my vvit affoords, / And ouer ioy of heart doth miniſter.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Ye alderliefeſt Dublin hills! / On leaving you my full heart fills, / And fill mine eyes with tears, […]1879, John Kingston James, Day Dreams, […], London: […] [Charles Whittingham at the Chiswick Press] for private circulation, →OCLC, page 31
Forms of alderliefest
| alternative form | alder-liefest |
|---|---|
| alternative form | alderlievest |
Origin of alderliefest
From Middle English alderlevest (“dearest of all”), from alder- (“of all, very”, prefix forming the superlative of adjectives or adverbs) (the genitive plural of al (“all, entirely, utterly, very”)) + lefest, levest (“dearest, most beloved”) (from lef, leve (“beloved or dear to someone”) (from Old English lēof (“beloved, dear”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to admire, praise; to covet, desire; to love”)) + -est (suffix forming the superlative of adjectives and adverbs)). The English word is analysable as alder- ((archaic) prefix meaning ‘having the greatest degree of something, of all’) + lief (“(archaic) beloved, dear”, adjective) + -est (suffix forming the superlative of adjectives and adverbs). Cognates * Dutch allerliefst * German allerliebst
Questions about alderliefest
- What does alderliefest mean?
- Alderliefest means often used as an epithet when addressing someone: most beloved.
- What part of speech is alderliefest?
- Alderliefest is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce alderliefest?
- Alderliefest is pronounced /ˌɔːldəˈliːfɪst/ (UK).
Words near alderliefest in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: alderliefest (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-alderliefest.wav.
Cite this entry: “alderliefest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/alderliefest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
