erst

1. 1.

   at a previous time

   “at one time he loved her”

   “her erstwhile writing”

   “she was a dancer once”

   Synonymsonceformerlyat one timeerstwhile

Questions about erst

What does erst mean?

erst means "at a previous time".

How many syllables are in erst?

erst has 1 syllable: erst.

What is another word for erst?

Close synonyms include once, formerly, at one time, erstwhile. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is erst a common word?

erst is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.