relict
/ˈɹɛlɪkt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.16 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Something that, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.
Archaic; Formal
noun
Something that, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.
Formal
noun
Something that, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.
Formal
noun
Something that, or someone who, survives or remains or is left over after the loss of others; a relic.
Formal
adj
That is a relict; pertaining to a relict.
Example Sentences
- "Upon which the Chancellor, by way of note said, 'it is suggested, that there is a relict of the deceased, married to another man, who has joined her in a power of attorney to authorize the sale of her interest, […]'"
- "But I am not the penniless nonentity I was when we first met; I can offer an honorable if not a brilliant marriage; and at the very lowest I can provide my wife – my widow, my relict – with a decent competence, an assured future."
- "[…] a continental northern Alaskan element, including a series of endemic species and disjuncts that have survived the Pleistocene glaciation in northern Alaska and thus represent relicts of the much warmer Tertiary […]"
- "The species may be a relict of former stages of historical vegetation and landscape development resulting from past climate changes (glacial and post- glacial periods)."
- "Dark rims around the pillows are caused by glaucophane enrichment, possibly a relict of a primary interaction between basalt and seawater, causing Na- enrichment in the original glass crust of the pillows."
- "A small number of linguists believe that Cimbrian is not an Austro-Bavarian dialect but a relict of Lombardic."
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English relicte (“widow”), from Middle French relicte (“widow”), from Late Latin relicta (“widow”), from Latin relictus, past participle of relinquō (“to abandon, to relinquish, to leave (behind)”), from re- + linquō (“to leave, quit, forsake, depart from”). Doublet of relic, derelict, and relinquish.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: relicte, relicta, relictus