Coevals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Entities that exist at the same time and share a common era
2. Beings or items originating from the same period and thus sharing age characteristics
3. Individuals or objects existing during the identical historical timeframe

Etymology: "Coevals" is the plural of "coeval," which is built from the Latin prefix "co-" (together) and "aevum" (age, lifetime, eternity), giving a sense of "of the same age." The Latin "aevum" is also the root of "age," "eternal," and "longevity," so the word is essentially a sibling of those familiar English terms, though it arrived through a more formal, scholarly channel. English borrowed "coeval" in the early 1600s, and it was used mostly in learned writing, where it could describe things existing from the same era, such as ancient buildings or contemporary thinkers. Its most common use has always been to describe people born around the same time as you, so "coevals" usually means one's contemporaries or peers in the sense of a generation.

Synonyms: contemporaries, peers, equals