ages

EN
noun

🇺🇸

male

🇺🇸

female

🇬🇧

/eɪdʒɪz/

🇬🇧

female

Word Forms

Plural

ages

Description

Ages refers to long periods of time—especially in history, human life, or cultural development—and is often used to emphasize vast duration ('for ages') or major historical epochs ('the Ice Age'). It's the plural of 'age', and while 'age' can be singular and countable (e.g., 'She’s the same age as me'), 'ages' usually conveys expansiveness, antiquity, or generational sweep.

Examples

Civilizations have risen and fallen over the ages.

We've been waiting for ages—where is the bus?

The museum displays artifacts from many different ages, including the Bronze Age and the Renaissance.

Languages evolve slowly, but change dramatically over the ages.

She’s lived through three political ages—colonial rule, independence, and democracy.

Root

age

Comes from the Old French 'age' and Latin 'aetās' (genitive 'aetātis'), meaning 'lifetime', 'generation', or 'period of life'. It originates from the Proto-Indo-European root '*h₂eyu-' meaning 'vital force, life, lifetime'. Core concept: a span of time, especially in relation to human life, history, or development. Examples include age, aging, ageless, middle-aged, teenager, longevity, antiquity, era, epoch.