antico

See also: Antico

Italian

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin antīquus (“ancient”).

Alternative forms

• antìquo (archaic)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /anˈti.ko/
• Rhymes: -iko
• Hyphenation: an‧tì‧co

Adjective

antico (feminine antica, masculine plural antichi, feminine plural antiche, superlative antichissimo)

1. ancient

   Antonyms: moderno, nuovo

   grani antichi ― ancient grains

Derived terms

• anticaglia (“antique; old junk”)
• anticamente (“in ancient times; anciently”)
• anticato (“old-looking”)
• antichista (“antiquarian”)
• antichità (“antiquity; antique”)
• Antico Testamento (“Old Testament”)
• tardoantico (“relating to the final centuries of the Roman Empire”)

See also

• anziano
• archeo-
• paleo-
• vecchio

Noun

antico m (plural antichi)

1. (in the singular) collectively, ancient things

   l'antico e il moderno ― the ancient and the modern, the old and the new

2. (in the plural) the ancients (people of the distant past)

   la saggezza degli antichi ― the wisdom of the ancients

   i Grandi Antichi ― the Great Old Ones

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Latin antīcus (“anterior”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /anˈti.ko/
• Rhymes: -iko
• Hyphenation: an‧tì‧co

Adjective

antico (feminine antica, masculine plural antichi, feminine plural antiche)

1. (archaeology) anterior, front (of a structural element, the face of a sarcophagus, etc.)

Etymology 3

From Latin antīcus, with a shift of stress due to it being reinterpreted as containing Latin -ĭcus / Italian -ico.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈan.ti.ko/
• Rhymes: -antiko
• Hyphenation: àn‧ti‧co

Adjective

antico (feminine antica, masculine plural antici, feminine plural antiche)

1. (anatomy) synonym of anteriore

   muscolo scaleno antico ― anterior scalene muscle

Further reading

• “antico”, in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• “antico” in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
• “antico” in Aldo Gabrielli, Grandi Dizionario Italiano (Hoepli)
• “antico” in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
• “antìco¹” in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• “antìco²” in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• antico in sapere.it – De Agostini Editore
• “antico”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Anagrams

• Antoci, Nocita, catino, catoni, citano, conati, contai, cotani, ctonia, ontica, tonica

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [anˈtiː.koː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [anˈtiː.ko]

Adjective

antīcō

1. dative/ablative masculine/neuter singular of antīcus