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ancient

Pronunciation: /ˈeɪn.ʃənt/

The English word “ancient” has 11 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Having lasted from a remote period; having been of long duration; of great age, very old.
  2. Existent or occurring in time long past, usually in remote ages; belonging to or associated with antiquity; old, as opposed to modern.
  3. Relating to antiquity as a primarily European historical period; the time before the Middle Ages.
  4. Experienced; versed.
  5. Former; sometime.

noun

  1. A person who is very old.
  2. A person who lived in ancient times.
  3. One of the senior members of the Inns of Court or of Chancery.
  4. A senior; an elder; a predecessor.
  5. A flag, banner, standard or ensign.
  6. The bearer of a flag; ensign.

Etymology

From Middle English auncyen, from Old French ancien, from Vulgar Latin *anteānus, composed of Latin ante (“before”) + -ānus (adjective-forming suffix). The non-etymological excrescent /t/ is by analogy with the common ending -ent.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.