Word.ws English Dictionary

earl

/ɜːl/US/ɝl/

earl noun: a British or Irish nobleman next in rank above a viscount and below a marquess; equivalent to a European count. A female using the style is termed a countess.

Noun (1)

earl (plural earls)

  1. A British or Irish nobleman next in rank above a viscount and below a marquess; equivalent to a European count. A female using the style is termed a countess.
  2. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Tanaecia. Other butterflies in this genus are called counts and viscounts.

Noun (2) capitalized: Earl

Earl (plural Earls)

  1. The title of an earl.
    • And therefore the Bishop and clergy of Man were totally powerless to resist the alteration of doctrinal articles and rites of worship which Earls Edward and Henry, between 1521 and 1594, following the edicts of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth, introduced into the Isle of Man.1860, William Mackenzie, editor, Legislation by Three of the Thirteen Stanleys, Kings of Man. […], Douglas, Isle of Man: […] [T]he Manx Society, page 191

Proper noun capitalized: Earl

Earl

  1. (US) A male given name from English from the English noun earl.
    • "Of course Gladys and Eleanor, having graced the last generation of heroines and being at present in their social prime, will be passed on to the next generation of shopgirls -"
      "Displacing Ella and Stella," interrupted Dick.
      "And Pearl and Jewel,", Gloria added cordially, " and Earl and Elmer and...1922, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, (please specify |book=1, 2, or 3)
    • - - - in a world of mandatory diminutives, a corporation of jolly Bills and Jacks and Herbs and Teds in which an unabbreviable given name like Earl must have been a minor handicap, "Oat" was the best that could be done for a man with the given name of Otis.1961, Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road, Vintage Contemporaries, published 2000, →ISBN, page 74
  2. A surname originating as an occupation for service in the household of an earl, or from a nickname.
    • The sheriff’s office released a compilation of bodycam footage Friday from deputies at the scene that shows them handcuffing Earl and pinning him down for more than 20 minutes as he struggles and repeatedly shouts for help.2024 September 30, Chelsea Bailey, “‘Take his pulse, he’s blue’: Bodycam footage shows fatal encounter between epileptic Indiana man and first responders”, in CNN
  3. A female given name.
  4. An unincorporated community in Las Animas County, Colorado.
  5. An unincorporated community in Callaway County, Missouri.
  6. A town in Cleveland County, North Carolina.
  7. An unincorporated community in Springbrook, Washburn County, Wisconsin.

earl meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

earl in Hindi

a British or Irish nobleman
अर्ल arla

earl in Tamil

பிரபு, கோமான்

earl in Marathi

a British or Irish nobleman
अर्ल arla

earl in Urdu

a British or Irish nobleman
اَرْل arla
More languagesFewer languages
earl in Bengali
আর্ল, কাউণ্ট
earl in Telugu
ఎర్ల్, అర్ల్
earl in Malayalam
ബ്രിട്ടീഷ് ഇടപ്രഭു
earl in Kannada
ಅರ್ಲ್, ಎರ್ಲ್, ಏರ್ಲ್
earl in Punjabi
ਅਰਲ
earl in Gujarati
અર્લ, એર્લ
earl in Odia
ଅର୍ଲ, ଆର୍ଲ୍, ଅର୍ଲ୍
earl in Nepali
अर्ल
earl in Persian
اَرل arl
earl in Thai
เอิร์ล
earl in Vietnamese
bá tước

Examples of earl in a sentence

  • He always makes much of the fact that he is related to an earl.
  • But it wasn’t only the madness of paranoid earls and fashionable landowners that was encoded in them.
  • Every staircase had its earl or an honourable, there was even a maharajah floating about the place.

All 28 example sentences with earl

Forms of earl

pluralearls
pluralEarls

Plural of earl: earls

Origin of earl

From Middle English erl, erle, from Old English eorl, from Proto-West Germanic *erl, from Proto-Germanic *erlaz (compare Old Saxon erl, Old Norse jarl), from Proto-Germanic *erōną, *arōną (compare Old Norse jara (“fight, battle”)). Doublet of eorl and jarl. Unrelated to ealdorman (“alderman”).

From earl (“nobleman”).

Words formed from earl

Phrases with earl

Words that rhyme with earl

25 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about earl

What does earl mean?
Earl means a British or Irish nobleman next in rank above a viscount and below a marquess; equivalent to a European count. A female using the style is termed a countess.
What is earl in Hindi?
Earl in Hindi is अर्ल (arla). See Earl meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is earl?
Earl can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce earl?
Earl is pronounced /ɜːl/ (UK).
What is the plural of earl?
The plural of earl is earls.

Words near earl in the dictionary

  1. earies
  2. eariness
  3. earing
  4. earings
  5. Earith
  6. earl
  7. Earl Grey
  8. Earl Greys
  9. earl marshal
  10. earl marshals
  11. Earl of Cork

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: earl (page history and authors); Earl (page history and authors); earl (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); earl (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); earl (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); earl (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); earl (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); earl (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); earl (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); earl (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); earl (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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-earl.wav.

Cite this entry: “earl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/earl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.