Origins – Aging And The Old

We know that a geriatrician specializes in the medical care of the elderly. The Greek word geras, old age, has a derived form, geron, old man, the root in gerontologist. The speciality is gerontology, the adjective is gerontological.
The Latin word for old is senex, the base on which senile, senescent, senior, and senate are built.
1.senile – showing signs of the physical and/or mental detioriation that generally marks very old age. The noun is senility.
2.senescent – aging, growing old. (Note the same suffix in this word as in adolescent, growing into an adult, convalescent, growing healthy again, and obsolescent, growing or becoming obsolete.) The noun is senescence.
3.senior – older. Noun: seniority.
4.senate – originally a council of older, and presumably wiser, citizens.
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