ancient

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• anchient (obsolete)
• antient (obsolete)
• aunchient (obsolete)
• auncient (obsolete)
• auntient (obsolete)
• awncient (obsolete)
• awntient (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English auncyen, from Old French ancien (“old”), from Latin root *anteanus, from ante (“before”). Compare antique.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈeɪnʃənt/, X-SAMPA: /"eInS@nt/
• also IPA: /ˈeɪntʃənt/, X-SAMPA: /"eIntS@nt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

ancient (comparative ancienter or more ancient, superlative ancientest or most ancient)

1. Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age; very old.

   an ancient city

   an ancient forest

2. Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.

   an ancient author

   an ancient empire

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, Internal Combustion^[1]:

     Buried within the Mediterranean littoral are some seventy to ninety million tons of slag from ancient smelting, about a third of it concentrated in Iberia. This ceaseless industrial fueling caused the deforestation of an estimated fifty to seventy million acres of woodlands.

Antonyms

• modern

Derived terms

terms derived from ancient

Ancient Egypt Ancient Greece Ancient Macedonian

ancient pyramid Ancient Rome ancientry

Related terms

antic antique antiquary

antiquarian antiquated antiquity

Translations

having lasted from a remote period

• Arabic: قديم (ar) (qadiim), عتيق (ar) (3atiiq)
• Burmese: ရှေး (my) (she:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 古代 (cmn) (gǔdài), 古老 (cmn) (gǔlǎo), 古舊 (cmn), 古旧 (cmn) (gǔjiù)

• Czech: starobylý (cs)
• Dutch: antiek (nl), oeroud (nl)
• Esperanto: malnovega (eo)
• Finnish: ikivanha (fi)
• French: ancien (fr), antique (fr)
• German: uralt (de), antik (de)

• Greek: αρχαίος (el) (archaíos) m

  Ancient Greek: ἀρχαῖος (arkheos) m

• Japanese: 古代 (ja) (こだい, kodai), 古い (ja) (ふるい, furui)
• Latin: priscus (la) m, antiquus (la) m, vetus (la) m, senex (la) m
• Latvian: sens (lv)
• Malay: kuno (ms)
• Russian: древний (ru) (drévnij), старинный (ru) (starínnyj), античный (ru) (antíčnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: star (sh) m, drevan (sh) m, starodrevan (sh) m
• Spanish: antiguo (es)
• Swedish: urgammal (sv)
• Turkish: antik (tr), eski (tr), antika (tr)

existent or occurring in time long past

• Burmese: ရှေး (my) (she:)
• Czech: starobylý (cs)
• Finnish: muinainen (fi), ammoinen (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀρχαῖος (arkheos) m

  Modern αρχαίος (el) (archaíos) m

• Irish: ársa (ga)

• Latgalian: senejs
• Latvian: sens (lv)
• Russian: древний (ru) (drévnij)
• Spanish: antiguo (es)
• Swedish: antik (sv), uråldrig (sv), forntida (sv), forn (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: lashtë (sq)
• Armenian: հնադարյան (hy) (hnadaryan), հինավուրց (hy) (hinavurc’)
• Bulgarian: древен (bg) (dreven), античен (bg) (antičen)
• Mandarin:

  Mandarin: 古代的 (cmn), 古舊的 (cmn), 舊的 (cmn), 古代的 (cmn), 古旧的 (cmn), 旧的 (cmn)

• Czech: starobylý (cs), starověký (cs), dávný (cs)
• Dutch: antiek (nl), oeroud (nl)
• Esperanto: antikva (eo)
• Ewe: blema n
• French: antique (fr), ancien (fr)
• Georgian: უძველესი (ka) (ujvelesi)
• German: antik (de)
• Hebrew: עתיק (he) (atiq) m, עתיקה (he) (atiqa) f
• Hungarian: antik (hu), ősi (hu)

• Icelandic: forn (is)
• Ido: antiqua (io), anciena (io)
• Indonesian: ngak baru (id), sudah tua (id), Kuno (id)
• Italian: antico (it)
• Japanese: 古代の (ja) (こだいの)
• Korean: 고대의 (ko)
• Lao: ບູຮານ (lo) (buuhaan)
• Latin: antiquus (la), antiquarius (la)
• Malagasy: ela (mg)
• Maltese: antik (mt) m, antika (mt) f, qadim (mt) m, qadima (mt) f, arkajk (mt) m, arkajka (mt) f
• Old English: eald (ang), gamol (ang)
• Persian: باستانی (fa) (baastaani)
• Polish: antyczny (pl), starożytny (pl), stary (pl)
• Portuguese: antigo (pt) m, antiga (pt) f
• Scots: auncient
• Scottish Gaelic: àrsaidh (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian: drevan (sh), antički (sh), prastar (sh)
• Slovene: prastar (sl)
• Telugu: పురాతన (te) (puraatana)

Noun

ancient (plural ancients)

1. A person who is very old or who lived in ancient times.
2. (heraldry, archaic) A flag, banner, standard or ensign.
   • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

     I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited the next morning with the boat washed clean, her ancient and pendants out, and everything to accommodate his guests..

References

• The Manual of Heraldry, Fifth Edition, by Anonymous, London, 1862, online at [2]
• ancient in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ancient in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• ancient at OneLook Dictionary Search

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: reach · secret · showed · #672: ancient · parts · getting · stay

Anagrams

• catenin