Other forms: antiques
An antique is an old object valued for its age, craftsmanship or beauty. An antique clock, an antique shop, buy antiques.
In the trade there is a working rule: a thing must be a hundred years old to be an antique, and younger old things are vintage or retro. Note the pronunciation, an-TEEK, with the stress on the second syllable, which is unusual for a word this common and catches people out. And antique as an adjective goes before the noun — an antique table — while antiquated means old-fashioned and useless, which is a criticism rather than a valuation.
1nounantiqueAn old object valued for its age and quality.
“The chest is a genuine antique and worth insuring.”
2adjectivevaluableOld and valuable.
“There is an antique mirror over the fireplace.”
antique is a valued old object.
Latin antiquus meant former or ancient, from ante, before — the same root as ancient and antecedent. The French spelling with -que arrived in the sixteenth century and brought the stress with it.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂en-
Latin
antiquus — former, earlier, ancient, old
French
antique — ancient, old
English, today
antique
Built from
French antique (“ancient, old”), from Latin antiquus (“former, earlier, ancient, old”), from ante (“before”); see ante-. a doublet of antic.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA