eternal

English

Alternative forms

• æternal (chiefly archaic)
• æternall (obsolete)
• eternall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Late Latin aeternalis, from Latin aeternus (“eternal”), from aevum (“age”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)nəl

Adjective

eternal (not comparable)

1. Lasting forever; unending.
   • 2012 May 27, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “New Kid On The Block” (season 4, episode 8; originally aired 11/12/1992)”, The Onion AV Club:

     In a bid to understand the eternal mystery that is woman, Bart goes to the least qualified possible source for advice and counsel: his father, who remarkably seems to have made it to his mid-30s without quite figuring out much of anything.

2. (philosophy) existing outside time; as opposed to sempiternal, existing within time but everlastingly

Synonyms

• (lasting forever; unending): permanent, sempiternal, endless, everlasting
• (existing outside time): timeless, atemporal

Antonyms

• sempiternal

Antonyms

• ephemeral

Derived terms

Terms derived from eternal

eternal life eternal recurrence

eternal return hope springs eternal

Translations

lasting forever

• Armenian: հավերժական (hy) (haveržakan) 
• Bengali: অনন্ত (bn), অমর (bn)
• Bulgarian: вечен (bg) (večen)
• Catalan: etern (ca), eternal (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 永遠 (cmn), 永远 (cmn) (yǒngyuǎn)

• Czech: věčný (cs) m
• Dutch: eeuwig (nl)
• Finnish: ikuinen (fi), päättymätön (fi)
• French: éternel (fr)
• German: ewig (de)
• Greek: αιώνιος (el) (aionios) 

  Ancient: ἀΐδιος (aïdios)

• Hebrew: נצחי (he) (natzkhi) m
• Hindi: सनातन (hi) (sanaatan) m
• Icelandic: eilífur (is)
• Italian: eterno (it)

• Japanese: 永遠の (ja) (えいえんの, eien-no), 永久の (ja) (えいきゅうの, eikyū-no)
• Jèrriais: êtèrnel
• Khmer: គ្មានទីបំផុត (km) (kmien tii bɑmpʰot)
• Korean: 영원히 (ko) (yeong-weon-hi)
• Kurdish: ebedî (ku), herherî (ku), hetahetayî (ku), bêdawî (ku)
• Latin: aeternus (la)
• Norwegian: evig (no), endeløs (no), evinnelig (no)
• Polish: wieczny (pl) m, wieczysty (pl) m
• Portuguese: eterno (pt)
• Russian: вечный (ru) (véčnyj) 
• Sanskrit: सनातन (sa)
• Scottish Gaelic: maireannach (gd), sìorraidh (gd)
• Serbian: večan, vekotrajan, vekovečan
• Slovene: večen (sl)
• Spanish: eterno (es), eternal (es)
• Swedish: evig (sv)
• Turkish: sonsuz (tr)

Anagrams

• enteral, teneral

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Catalan

Adjective

eternal m, f (masculine and feminine plural eternals)

1. eternal

Synonyms

• etern

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Spanish

Adjective

eternal m and f (plural eternales)

1. eternal

Synonyms

• eterno