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artefact

UK/ˈɑːtɪfækt/US/ˈɑɹtɪfækt/
nounB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,594 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: artefacts

An artefact is an object made by people long ago. Bronze age artefacts, a rare artefact, catalogue the artefacts.

Where it was found matters more than what it is — an object without its context has lost most of what it could tell you, which is why looting destroys knowledge as well as property. This is the British spelling; American writing has artifact.

Definitions of artefact

  1. 1nounartefactAn object made by people long ago.B2+

    “The museum displays artefacts from Roman Britain, including coins and pottery.”

artefact is an object.

Also accepted in games: artifact

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *dʰeh₁-

  2. Italian

    artefatto

  3. English

    artifact

  4. English, today

    artefact

Built from

  • ars · Latin — art
  • factum · Latin — thing made
  • facio · Latin — to make, do

artifact comes from Italian artefatto. Alteration of artefact, from Italian artefatto, from Latin arte (“by skill”) (ablative of ars (“art”)) + factum (“thing made”) (from facio (“to make, do”)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in History & Eras, Myths & Legends, Fairy Tales & Folklore

Practise this word

artefact in the wild

  • A wide variety of analyses take place to analyze artefacts and provide information on them.

    Artifact (archaeology)

  • However, the process of analyzing artefacts through scientific archaeology can be hindered by the looting and collecting of artefacts, which sparks ethical debate.

    Artifact (archaeology)

  • Artifact is the spelling in North American English; artefact is usually preferred elsewhere.

    Cultural artifact

  • Most Aboriginal artefacts were multi-purpose and could be used for a variety of different occupations.

    Australian Aboriginal artefacts

  • Stone artefacts include cutting tools and grinding stones to hunt and make food.

    Australian Aboriginal artefacts

1 / 2

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.

Related words

the facio family

officefact

artefact — used about once every 15,236 pages · #12,594 · point at the bar for the others