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archaic

noun
/ɑːˈkeɪ.ɪk/UK/ɑɹˈkeɪ.ɪk/US/ɐːˈkæɪ.ɪk/

Etymology

From archaism (“ancient or obsolete phrase or expression”) or from French archaïque, ultimately from Ancient Greek ἀρχαϊκός (arkhaïkós, “old-fashioned”), from ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, “from the beginning, antiquated, ancient, old”), from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “beginning, origin”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to be first”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin, rule, command”).

  1. derived from *h₂ergʰ-✻

Definitions

  1. The prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian’,…

    The prehistoric period intermediate between the earliest period (‘Paleo-Indian’, ‘Paleo-American’, ‘American‐paleolithic’, etc.) of human presence in the Western Hemisphere, and the most recent prehistoric period (‘Woodland’, etc.).

    • … Archaic Stage … the stage of migratory hunting and gathering cultures continuing into environmental conditions approximately those of the present.

  2. (A member of) an archaic variety of Homo sapiens.

    • [...] prefer the third explanation for the advanced-looking features of Neandertals (Chapter 7) and the Ngandong hominins (Chapter 6), but they have had little to say about the post-Erectine archaics from China.

  3. Of or characterized by antiquity

    Of or characterized by antiquity; old-fashioned, quaint, antiquated.

    • There is in the best archaic coin work [of the Greeks] ... a strength and a delicacy which are often wanting in the fully developed art of a later age.
    • Brann's compass of words, idioms and phrases harks back to the archaic and reaches forward to the futuristic. Volume 1
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. No longer in ordinary use, though still used occasionally to give a sense of antiquity…

      No longer in ordinary use, though still used occasionally to give a sense of antiquity and still likely to be understood by well-educated speakers and are found in historical texts.

      • The language of the Faerie Queene was made archaic Language:— in order to be in keeping with the chivalry of bygone ages that formed its subject.

    2. Belonging to the archaic period.

The neighborhood

Derived

archaical, archaically, archaicism, archaicity, archaicize, archaicness, archaic smile, archaicy, archaism, archaist, hyperarchaic, nonarchaic, pseudo-archaic, superarchaic, unarchaic

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for archaic. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA