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archival

UK/ɑːˈkaɪv(ə)l/US/ˌɑɹˈkaɪv(ə)l/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,338 of 15,258mostly written

Archival means kept as a permanent record. Archival footage, archival quality paper.

Of materials it means made to last, so archival paper has no acid in it to eat itself. Archival footage is old film pulled out to show what something used to look like.

Archivo-FSP · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of archival

  1. 1adjectivearchivalKept as a permanent record.C2

    “The archival copy is never handled by anybody.”

archival is a quality.

Where it comes from

From archive, ultimately Greek archeion, a public office, from arche, government.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *h₂ergʰ-

  2. English, today

    archival

The adjective is derived from archive + al. The noun is derived from archive + al.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

archival in the wild

  • The study and practice of organizing, preserving, and providing access to information and materials in archives is called archival science.

    Archive

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.