archive
/ˈɑɹˌkaɪv/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.98 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A collection, a repository.
Example Sentences
- "The chiefeſt of the firſt Precinct vvas Lubeck, vvhere the Archives of their ancient Records, and their prime Chancery is ſtill, […]"
- "The preſident accepted the Marquis's ſvvord—he ſtay'd a fevv minutes to ſee it depoſited in the archives of his houſe—and departed."
- "The court, however, was relieved from giving judgment on the case before it, by the death of the prince, which put a stop to its proceedings; the minutes of which were sealed up in a green coffer, and, by order of the king, deposited in the archive of Simancas by Christóval de Mora."
- ""I don't know how one could be interested in libraries and not archives," [Thomas] Lannon told me. They tell you "the stories behind things," he said, "the unpublished, the hard to find, the true story.""
- "His archive of Old High German texts is the most extensive in Britain."
- "[H]e took a particular Journy to Sparta, to ſearch the Archives of that famous Commonvvealth, to underſtand throughly the model of their ancient Government, their Legiſlators, their Kings, and their Ephori, […]"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂er-der.? Proto-Indo-European *h₂ergʰ-der.? Ancient Greek ἄρχω (árkhō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-ā́ Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓ρχή (ărkhḗ) Ancient Greek *ἀρχεῖος (*arkheîos) Ancient Greek ἀρχεῖον (arkheîon)bor. Latin archīvumbor. French archives French archivebor. English archive The noun is borrowed from French archive, archif, from Late Latin archīvum, archīum (“archive; room containing an archive; public record office”), from Ancient Greek ἀρχεῖον (arkheîon, “office of a magistrate; public building or office; town hall; (in the plural) archives; public records”), a noun use of the neuter form of *ἀρχεῖος (*arkheîos, “relating to an office”), from ᾰ̓ρχή (ărkhḗ, “beginning, origin; authority, sovereignty”) (from ἄρχω (árkhō, “to begin; to govern, rule”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- (“to fit; to fix; to put together”), or *h₂ergʰ- (“to begin; to command; to rule”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix meaning ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives). The verb is derived from the noun.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: archive, archīvum, ἀρχεῖον, *h₂er-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɑɹˌkaɪv/
- British English: /ˈɑːkaɪv/