Ancient
/ˈeɪn.ʃənt/noun
Belonging to the very distant past.
Did you know?Ancient entered English through Old French and ultimately comes from Latin anteanus, meaning “before” or “belonging to former times,” so it literally points backward in time like a linguistic séance.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*h₂ent-
“front, before”
Latin
Latin
ante
“before, in front of”
Late Latin
Latin
anteanus
“former, of earlier times”
Old French
Old French
ancien
“old, former”
Middle English
English
auncien
“old, venerable”
Modern English
English
ancient
“very old; belonging to a distant past”
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