anachronism

English

WOTD – 11 August 2006

Etymology

From New Latin anachronismus, from Ancient Greek ἀναχρονισμός (anakhronismós), from ἀναχρονίζομαι (anakhronízomai, “referring to the wrong time”), from ἀνά (aná, “up against”) + χρονίζω (khronízō, “spending time”), from χρόνος (khrónos, “time”). Analyzable as ana- +‎ chrono- +‎ -ism.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ənăkʹrənĭzm, ənăkʹrənĭzəm; IPA^(key): /əˈnæ.kɹə.nɪ.z(ə)m/

• Audio (US, Northern California):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

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Noun

anachronism (countable and uncountable, plural anachronisms)

1. A chronological mistake; the erroneous dating of an event, circumstance, or object. [from 17th c.]
   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 30, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     Indeed, that Hall of the Upper Temple is a sight not uninteresting, and with the exception of some trifling improvements and anachronisms which have been introduced into the practice there, a man may sit down and fancy that he joins in a meal of the seventeenth century.

   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 53, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     [W]e beg the reader to understand that we only commit anachronisms when we choose and when by a daring violation of those natural laws some great ethical truth is to be advanced […]

2. A person or thing which seems to belong to a different time or period of time. [from 19th c.]
   • 1956, Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, page 32:

     His movements, his clothes, everything about him, seemed slightly out of place in this assembly. He spoiled the pattern; like Alvin, he was an anachronism.

   • 1971, Ken Welsh, Hitch-hiker's Guide to Europe, revised and updated edition, London: Pan, published 1975, page 142:

     There exist in Europe a number of independent or semi-independent countries which are complete anachronisms, they are mini-countries which have little business existing in this hurly-burly century, but somehow they survive.

Related terms

• anachronistic
• anachronistically
• anachronous
• anachronously
• parachronistic
• prochronistic

 

Translations

chronological mistake

• Armenian: անախրոնիզմ (hy) m (anaxronizm)
• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: анахрони́зъм (bg) m (anahronízǎm)
• Catalan: anacronisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不合時宜／不合时宜 (zh) (bùhéshíyí), 不合时宜 (zh) (bùhéshíyí)

• Danish: anakronism c
• Dutch: anachronisme (nl) n
• Esperanto: anakronismo
• Finnish: ajoitusvirhe
• French: anachronisme (fr) m
• Galician: anacronismo m
• German: Anachronismus (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀναχρονισμός m (anakhronismós)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: időrendi tévedés, anakronizmus (hu), időzavar, kortévesztés (hu)
• Indonesian: anakronisme (id)
• Irish: mí-aimsearthacht f, anacrónachas m, iomrall aimsire m
• Japanese: 時代錯誤 (ja) (じだいさくご, jidai sakugo)
• Korean: 시대 착오 (sidae chago)
• Manx: mee-emshiraght f
• Polish: anachronizm (pl) m, anachroniczność f
• Portuguese: anacronismo (pt) m
• Russian: анахрони́зм (ru) m (anaxronízm)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: анакронѝзам m, анахронѝзам m

  Roman: anakronìzam (sh) m, anahronìzam (sh) m

• Spanish: anacronismo (es) m, anacronía (es) f
• Swedish: anakronism (sv) c
• Turkish: anakronizm (tr), çağaşım (tr), zamandışılık
• Ukrainian: анахроні́зм (uk) m (anaxronízm)

person or thing which seems to belong to a different time

• Bulgarian: анахрони́зъм (bg) m (anahronízǎm)
• Catalan: anacronisme m
• Czech: anachronismus (cs) m
• Danish: anakronisme (da) c
• Finnish: anakronismi (fi)
• Galician: anacronismo m
• German: Anachronismus (de) m
• Greek: αναχρονισμός (el) m (anachronismós)
• Indonesian: anakronisme (id)
• Japanese: 時代錯誤 (ja) (じだいさくご, jidai sakugo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: anakronisme (no) m

  Nynorsk: anakronisme m

• Polish: anachronizm (pl) m, anachroniczność f
• Portuguese: anacronismo (pt) m
• Russian: анахрони́зм (ru) m (anaxronízm), пережи́ток (ru) m (perežítok)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: анакронѝзам m

  Roman: anakronìzam (sh) m

• Spanish: anacronismo (es) m, anacronía (es) f
• Turkish: zaman aşımı (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} anakronîzm f, ^{(please verify)} derdemî f

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} anacronism (ro) n

Further reading

• anachronism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Anachronism”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume I (A–B), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 300, column 2.

Anagrams

• Monarchians