archaism

English

Alternative forms

• archaicism

Etymology

17th Century, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] New Latin, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ἀρχαϊσμός (arkhaïsmós, “an antiquated phrase or style”), from ἀρχαίζειν (arkhaízein, “to model one's style upon that of ancient writers”), from ἀρχαῖος (arkhaîos, “old, ancient”), from ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “beginning”), from ἄρχω (árkhō, “I begin”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin, rule, command”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑː(ɹ)keɪˌɪzəm/, /ˈɑː(ɹ)kiˌɪzəm/

Noun

archaism (countable and uncountable, plural archaisms)

1. The adoption or imitation of archaic words or style.
2. An archaic word, style, etc.
   • L. Douglas

     He had the fastidiousness, the preciosity, the love of archaisms, of your true decadent.

Related terms

• archaic

Translations

archaic word, language

• Afrikaans: argaïsme (af)
• Armenian: հնաբանություն (hy) (hnabanutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: arxaizm
• Catalan: arcaisme (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 古詞／古词 (zh) (gǔcí), 古词 (zh) (gǔcí), 古語／古语 (zh) (gǔyǔ), 古语 (zh) (gǔyǔ)

• Danish: arkaisme
• Dutch: archaïsme (nl) n
• Esperanto: arĥaismo, arkaismo
• Finnish: arkaismi (fi)
• French: archaïsme (fr) m
• Georgian: მოძველებული სიტყვა (moʒvelebuli siṭq̇va), არქაიზმი (arkaizmi)
• German: Archaismus (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingue:
• Irish: ársaíocht f
• Japanese: 古語 (ja) (こご, kogo), アルカイズム (arukaizumu), アーケイズム (ākeizumu)
• Manx: shenn-chaaynt f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: arkaisme (no) m

  Nynorsk: arkaisme m

• Polish: archaizm (pl) m
• Portuguese: arcaísmo (pt) m
• Romanian: arhaism (ro) n, arhaisme n pl, cuvânt învechit n
• Russian: архаи́зм (ru) m (arxaízm)
• Slovak: archaizmus (sk) m
• Spanish: arcaísmo (es) m
• Swedish: arkaism (sv)

Further reading

• “archaism”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “archaism”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “archaism”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• charisma, machairs