erstwhile

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The Word of the Day for June 16 is:

erstwhile   \ERST-wyle\   adverb
     : in the past : formerly

Example sentence:
     We were delighted to discover the new community garden 
blooming where erstwhile had been a trash-filled vacant lot.

Did you know? 
     The adverb "erstwhile" has been part of English since the 
16th century, but it is formed from two words that are much 
older. It comes from the Old English words "aer," 
meaning "early" (and also the source for the word "ere") 
and "hwil," which had much the same meaning as the modern 
words "while" and "time." The adjective "erstwhile" (as 
in "erstwhile enemies") joined the language around 1900.