archaic

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. adjective so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period
  2. adjective little evolved from or characteristic of an earlier ancestral type

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”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

antediluvian, antiquated

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