archaism
/ˈɑɹ.kiˌɪz.əm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.48 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "In this text, the word "methinks" appears to be a deliberate archaism."
- "He had the fastidiousness, the preciosity, the love of archaisms, of your true decadent."
Etymology
17th century, from New Latin archaismus, from Ancient Greek ἀρχαϊσμός (arkhaïsmós, “an antiquated phrase or style”), from ἀρχαίζω (arkhaízō, “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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *h₂ergʰ-, archaismus, ἀρχαϊσμός
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɑɹ.kiˌɪz.əm/
- British English: /ˈɑː.keɪ.ɪz.əm/