archaic

Intermediatezipf 3.36

Pronunciation

/ɑːˈkeɪɪk/(ar-KAY-ik)

Part of speech

adjectiveneutral

Chinese

古老的；过时的（强调不再适用于现代）

Definition

Very old or old-fashioned; belonging to an earlier period and no longer in common use.

Word family

  • archaism/ˈɑːkeɪɪzəm/(n)古语；古体

Collocations

  • archaic language
  • archaic law
  • archaic system
  • archaic customs
  • seem archaic

Examples

  1. 1.The company's archaic filing system relied entirely on paper folders — no digital records at all. (outdated)
  2. 2.Words like "forsooth" and "prithee" are archaic English that you'll only encounter in Shakespeare. (linguistic)

Synonyms

  • antiquated/ˈæntɪkweɪtɪd/— old and no longer useful
  • obsolete/ˌɒbsəˈliːt/— no longer in use or relevant
  • outdated/aʊtˈdeɪtɪd/— no longer current — more informal

Etymology

from Greek "arkhaikos" (old-fashioned) — "arkhaios" (ancient) — "arkhe" (beginning)