Relic

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɹɛlɪk/

Definitions

1. An object surviving from an earlier time, often valued for its historical or sentimental significance
2. An artifact or object preserved from a past era that holds cultural, religious, or sentimental meaning
3. A surviving remnant or memento from a former period that carries historical or spiritual importance

Etymology: Some of the oldest English words for a sacred remnant were built from a verb meaning "to leave behind." The Latin "reliquiae" meant "remains," and it came from "relinquere," which combined "re-" with "linquere," "to leave, quit, or forsake." A relic, in other words, began as whatever was left over after something had gone. Medieval French took the word as "relique," and English adopted it in Middle English with the sense of a holy body part or possession kept as a religious treasure. The same Latin root produced several words that have since drifted apart in meaning. "Relict" kept the sense of a widow, a person left behind by a dead spouse, while "derelict" and "relinquish" went on to mean abandoned and to give up. Relic is their doublet, a sibling that entered English by a different route and kept the original idea of something left from the past.

Synonyms: artifact, antiquity, remnant

Antonyms: modernity, novelty