Hoary

Hoary \HAWR-ee\ , adjective;
1. Tedious from familiarity, stale
2. Gray or white with age
3. Ancient or venerable

This word dates to the 1520's as "grey or white with age" referring to hair. By the 1600's is took on the sense of "venerable, ancient." It is based on the adjective hoar, which come from Old English har which means "hoary, gray, venerable, old" in connection with having gray hair. It derives from Proto-Germanic *haira, which comes from Proto-Indo-European *kei-, which is the source of color adjectives. In German, this word became Herr, which is a title of respect.

Today's word and the first definition were both taken from Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' for Wednesday, July 27
Etymologies come from the Oxford English Dictionary and/or Etymonline.com