Word.ws English Dictionary

archaism

/ˈɑː.keɪ.ɪz.əm/US/ˈɑɹ.kiˌɪz.əm/

archaism noun: the adoption or imitation of archaic words or style.

Noun

archaism (countable and uncountable, plural archaisms)

  1. The adoption or imitation of archaic words or style.
  2. An archaic word, style, etc.
    • 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.1902, Robert Langton Douglas, A History of Siena

archaism meaning in Tamil, Kannada, Indonesian and Persian

archaism in Tamil

வழக்கொழிந்த ஒன்று, பழஞ்சொல், பழந்தொடர், மறைந்து போன, பழைய சொல் அல்லது தொடர், இலக்கியம்

archaism in Kannada

ಆರ್ಷೇಯತೆ

archaism in Indonesian

archaic word, language
arkaisme

archaism in Persian

archaic word, language
باستانگرایی bâstân-garâyi
More languagesFewer languages
archaism in Vietnamese
từ cổ, cổ ngữ

Synonyms of archaism

Forms of archaism

pluralarchaisms
alternative formarchaicism
alternative hypercorrect (dated)archæism
alternative hypercorrect (dated, rare)archaeism

Origin of archaism

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”).

Words formed from archaism

Questions about archaism

What does archaism mean?
Archaism means the adoption or imitation of archaic words or style.
What is archaism in Tamil?
Archaism in Tamil is வழக்கொழிந்த ஒன்று, பழஞ்சொல், பழந்தொடர். See Archaism meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is archaism?
Archaism is a noun.
How do you pronounce archaism?
Archaism is pronounced /ˈɑː.keɪ.ɪz.əm/ (UK).
What is the plural of archaism?
The plural of archaism is archaisms.

Words near archaism in the dictionary

  1. archaised
  2. archaiser
  3. archaisers
  4. archaises
  5. archaising
  6. archaism
  7. archaisms
  8. archaist
  9. archaistic
  10. archaistically
  11. archaists

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: archaism (page history and authors); archaism (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); archaism (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-archaism.wav.

Cite this entry: “archaism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/archaism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.