How Old Is Ancient? The Word Has a Surprisingly Firm Cut-off
Ancient means belonging to the distant past. In history it has a technical range: the period from the earliest writing to roughly the fall of Rome in AD 476.
Ancient means very old, or belonging to a time long past. In everyday speech it is elastic — a person can call a ten-year-old phone ancient. In history writing it is not: the ancient world runs from the first writing to about the fifth century AD.
- Of the distant past. *Ancient Egypt, ancient Greece.*
- Extremely old. *An ancient oak in the churchyard.*
- Comically outdated (informal). *This laptop is ancient.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adjective | ancient | Ancient history. |
| Noun (plural) | the ancients | The ancients knew of it. |
| Adverb | anciently | Anciently the river ran further east. |
| Comparative | more ancient | A more ancient text. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The ancient Greeks used the same argument.Historical use, capital G optional on Greeks.
- That is ancient history now.An idiom: no longer relevant.
- An ancient woodland is one that has existed since 1600.In British conservation the term is defined precisely.
Ancient, antique, old and archaic
- Old — neutral, any age
- Ancient — of the distant past, often thousands of years
- Antique — old and collectable, usually over a hundred years
- Archaic — no longer in use; said of words, laws and customs
From Old French *ancien*, from Latin *ante*, before. The English *-t* on the end was added by mistake in the sixteenth century, by analogy with words like *pageant*.
When did ancient history end?
By convention with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in AD 476, though historians treat that date as a marker of convenience rather than a real break.
Is ancient the same as prehistoric?
No. Prehistoric means before written records; ancient history begins where writing does.