Régi, öreg or idős: which Hungarian word for "old" do you use?

English "old" has two meanings, and Hungarian gives each its own word. Régi means "not new": an old book, an old house, an old custom, a friend you have known for years. Öreg and idős mean "not young": an old man, an old dog, an elderly lady. Idős has one more job. It is the "old" in the age question Milyen idős a fiad?, "How old is your son?"

The rule: not new, or not young?

Before you pick a word, ask which "old" you mean. Wiktionary draws the line in its glosses. Régi is "old (not new)", and its opposite is új, "new". Öreg is "old (not young)", and its opposites are fiatal and ifjú, "young". Each entry points to the other with "compare".

• régi = not new, of long standing. For objects, buildings, customs, the past, and how long you have known someone.
• öreg = not young. Wiktionary labels it "chiefly of people". The learner lexicon elon.io adds animals, and "something felt as aged in a more physical sense".
• idős = old, elderly. Wiktionary lists it as a synonym of öreg. It also means "years old", and in the comparative it gives the title "Senior".

• Ez egy régi könyv. This is an old book.
• Az épület régi. The building is old. (elon.io's example)
• A kutyám öreg. My dog is old.
• A nagyszüleim már idősek. My grandparents are elderly now.

So the test is the English opposite. If the opposite is "new", say régi. If the opposite is "young", say öreg or idős.

Worked example: one sentence with three olds

Take an English sentence that uses "old" three times: "My old friend's old dog lives in an old house." Here "my old friend" means a friend of many years, not an elderly one. Walk through it one "old" at a time.

1. "My old friend." The friend is not necessarily old. The friendship is. Wiktionary's usage note for régi covers exactly this case: for people, use öreg, "except if the duration of an acquaintance is meant". So it is a régi barátom.
2. "Old dog." The dog is not young. That is öreg, the word elon.io gives for people and animals: öreg kutya.
3. "Old house." The house is not new. For a building, elon.io calls régi "the normal word": régi ház.

Put together, with the possessive "friend's dog" built as on the possession page:

• A régi barátom öreg kutyája egy régi házban lakik. My old friend's old dog lives in an old house.

Now change one word. Az öreg barátom is "my elderly friend", which is Wiktionary's own contrast. The sentence is still grammatical, but it now says something about your friend's age. That is the slip to watch for, and the table below shows where else the two meanings cross.

Which "old" for which noun: the table

Each row is a ruling from the sections below, with its source there. The last column says when a choice stops meaning what you want.

Two rows do most of the work. Things are régi, living beings are öreg. The friend row is where the two cross, because a friend is a person and a friendship has a length.

Régi: not new, from long ago

Régi is rég, "long ago", plus the adjective suffix -i. So it means "from long ago", and that is why it fits anything that has lasted: a coat, a town, a custom (régi szokás), a friendship. Wiktionary gives ó as its synonym and új as its opposite. The adverbs from the same root are rég and régen, "long ago": Ez régen történt, "This happened a long time ago." How "ago" and "for" work with numbers is on the két éve or két évig page.

Régi barát: a friend of many years

This is the one case where régi goes with a person. Wiktionary's usage note sets out the pair: öreg barát is an "elderly friend", régi barát a "long-time friend". The same logic covers a colleague or neighbour you have known for years: régi kolléga, régi szomszéd.

Régi as a noun

Wiktionary gives régi two noun senses:

• a régiek the ancients, the old folk (in the plural, of people)
• Minden marad a régiben. Everything stays the same. (literally "in the old")

Two derived words are worth knowing as vocabulary: régiség, "antique", as in régiségbolt (antique shop), and régimódi, "old-fashioned", for a style or a way of thinking.

The comparative: régebbi, not régibb

Most adjectives just add -bb (see comparatives and superlatives). Régi is the odd one. Its comparative is régebbi, built on rég, and Wiktionary's usage note says plainly that régibb is "a more archaic comparative variant" and to use régebbi instead. The superlative is legrégebbi, and Wiktionary also lists legrégibb.

• Ez a ház régebbi, mint a templom. This house is older than the church.
• Ez a város legrégebbi épülete. This is the town's oldest building.

Öreg: not young, and four colloquial nouns

Öreg is the "old" of living things. Wiktionary's example is a book title: Az öreg halász és a tenger, Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It lists idős, agg, vén, koros and éltes as synonyms. The comparative is regular: öregebb, "older".

• A nagyapám nagyon öreg. My grandfather is very old.
• Péter két évvel öregebb nálam. Péter is two years older than me.
• Öregszem. I'm getting old.

The verb is öregszik or öregedik, "to grow old, to age". Wiktionary treats them as alternative forms, and gives idősödik and vénül as synonyms. The compounds öregember (old man) and öregasszony (old woman) are written as one word.

Why öreg can mean "big"

Wiktionary traces öreg to a Proto-Ugric word meaning "big, old". The "big" half survives in dialect and in a few fixed words, all labelled dialectal or archaic:

• öreg hiba a big mistake
• öregujj big toe
• öregszülő grandparent

Two more senses are regional. Of food, öreg can mean "dense". Of a time of day, it is a folksy "late": öreg este, "late evening". You will not need to say these, but they explain some odd phrases in folk texts.

Öreg as a noun: the boss, your parents, "bro"

As a noun, öreg is "old person". Wiktionary also gives three colloquial senses:

• az öreg the leader of a community: "the old man", "the boss"
• az öregeim, az öregem my parents; my old man or my old lady (with a possessive, often with a)
• Szia, öregem! Hi, man! / Hi, bro! (to someone of about your age and status)

The last one is the surprise. Öregem as an address says nothing about age. Wiktionary gives öcsém as its synonym and labels both senses colloquial, so this is an address for the informal side of formal and informal "you".

Idős: elderly, years old, and "Senior"

Idős is idő, "time", plus -s, "having". It is built the same way as koros, "elderly", from kor, "age". Wiktionary gives it three senses.

1. Old, elderly

Here it overlaps with öreg. Wiktionary lists öreg and élemedett korú as synonyms, with fiatal and ifjú as opposites.

• Egy idős asszony ült a padon. An old woman was sitting on the bench.
• Segítek az idős szomszédomnak. I help my elderly neighbour.

2. Years old: the age question

This sense is the one öreg does not have. Wiktionary's example is Mennyi/Milyen idős most a fiad?, "How old is your son now?" The son may be a child. In the question, idős asks about age and says nothing about being old.

The other common way to ask is with éves, "years old": Hány éves vagy?, "How old are you?" The answer uses éves with a number: Tizenöt éves, "Fifteen years old." Numbers are on the numbers page.

• Milyen idős a fiad? Hatéves. How old is your son? Six.
• Hány éves vagy? Huszonnyolc éves vagyok. How old are you? I'm twenty-eight.

3. Senior: id. before a name

In the comparative, idős gives a title. Wiktionary defines id., short for idősb or idősebb, as "a title used before a father's name when his son is given the same name": id. Kovács János, "János Kovács Sr." The son is ifj. Kovács János, from ifjabb, "younger". The title goes before the family name, because Hungarian puts the family name first (see names and titles).

The ordinary comparative is idősebb, and Wiktionary marks idősb archaic, "now mostly limited to the spoken form of id." Used with nothing to compare to, idősebb means "elderly": egy idősebb hölgy is "an elderly lady", not "an older lady" than someone in particular. The comparatives page explains this "fairly X" comparative.

Is öreg rude? What the dictionaries actually label

Is öreg the blunt word and idős the polite one? The dictionary does not say so. Wiktionary gives neither öreg nor idős a register label, and it lists each as a synonym of the other. The labels fall on other words:

• vénember ("old man"): labelled offensive, as a synonym of öregember.
• tata ("old man"): labelled offensive in the same list.
• vénasszony ("old woman"): labelled "possibly offensive". Its listed synonyms are öregasszony and idős asszony.

So the word to avoid is vén in compounds, not öreg. When you want the phrase with no edge at all, Wiktionary's synonym lists offer idős ember and idős asszony. And for the age question, idős is the only one of the three that works.

One more clue sits in the entry for aggkor, "old age" (labelled higher register). Among its synonyms, öregség, öregkor, időskor and vénkor carry no label. Only szépkor, literally "beautiful age", is marked euphemistic.

Vén, agg, ősi, ó and the rest

Hungarian has more words for "old" than these three. None replaces them in everyday speech, but you will meet them in books and fixed phrases. The meanings and labels below are Wiktionary's.

Ó and ősi belong with régi, the "not new" family: Wiktionary lists régi and ősi as synonyms of ó. Vén, agg, koros and éltes belong with öreg and idős, the "not young" family. Ó also builds the period names: ókor sits beside középkor (Middle Ages) and újkor (modern era).

Where the rule stops

• Öreg can describe things. elon.io allows it for "something felt as aged in a more physical sense". The rule "things are régi" is the neutral choice, not a ban.
• Öreg and idős overlap for people. Wiktionary lists them as synonyms, so for an old person either is correct. The sources used here do not rank one as more polite. The one hard difference is the age question, where only idős works.
• Animals are elon.io's call. Wiktionary's label for öreg is "chiefly of people". elon.io extends it to animals, which is why the table gives öreg kutya.
• Compounds choose for you. Öregember, ókor, régimódi and régiség are fixed words. You cannot swap their "old" for another one.

Common learner errors

1. Saying öreg barátom for "my old friend". That is "my elderly friend". A friend of many years is régi barátom.
2. Calling a building öreg. The normal word is régi: régi ház, régi templom.
3. Asking Milyen öreg vagy? The age question takes idős or éves: Milyen idős vagy? or Hány éves vagy?
4. Forming régibb. Wiktionary calls it archaic. Use régebbi.
5. Reading öregem as a comment on age. It is "man, bro" between equals.
6. Using vénember as a neutral "old man". It is labelled offensive. Say öregember or idős ember.

More slips of this kind are on the common mistakes page.

Sources and further reading

• Wiktionary, "régi" (Hungarian): gloss "not new", usage notes on régebbi and on régi barát vs öreg barát, noun senses
• Wiktionary, "öreg" (Hungarian): "chiefly of people", etymology after Aikio (2020), dialectal, regional and folksy senses, colloquial noun senses
• Wiktionary, "idős", "idősb", "id." and "ifj." (Hungarian): "years old" sense, Senior and Junior
• elon.io, "Az épület régi": régi for buildings, öreg for people and animals
• Wiktionary, Hungarian entries "vén", "agg", "ősi", "ó", "koros", "éltes", "öregember", "vénasszony", "aggkor", "öregedik", "rég", "régiség", "régimódi", "éves", "ókor"

Frequently asked questions