Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definitions: Relic |
RelicNoun1. Antiquity that as survived from the distant past. 2. Something of sentimental value. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "relic" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1385. (references) |
| Domain | Definitions |
Geography | Of any soil whose characteristics attest to its having developed at an earlier time and/or under different environmental conditions than those of to-day. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A landform that has survived decay or disintegration, such as an erosion remnant; or one that has been left behind after the disappearance of the greater part of its substance such as a remnant island. The term is sometimes used adjectivally as a synonym of relict, but this usage is notrecommended. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The word relic comes from the Latin reliquiae ('remains') and there are many pre-Christian instances of some bone or other part of the corpse, or some intimately associated object, carefully preserved with an air of veneration as a tangible memorial. The preservation of relics is a primitive instinct, and it is associated with shamanism as well as many other developed religious systems besides that of Christianity. Relics are an important aspect of Buddhism and Hinduism. In some denominations of Christianity, a relic is an object of religious veneration, especially a piece of the body or a personal item of a saint. A shrine that houses a relic is called a reliquary.
Many tales of miracles and other marvels were attributed to relics beginning in the early centuries of the church; many of these became especially popular during the Middle Ages. These tales are collected in books of hagiography such as the Golden Legend or the works of Caesar of Heisterbach. These miracle tales made relics much sought after during the Middle Ages.
Pieces of the True Cross were one of the most highly sought after such relics; many churches claimed to possess a piece of it, so many that Erasmus famously remarked that there were enough pieces of the True Cross to build a ship from. The Shroud of Turin is another relic whose authenticity is questionable. The abbey church of Coulombs in France, among several others, claims to possess the relic of Jesus Christ's circumcision - the Holy Prepuce.
; First-Class Relics : Actual part of a saint (a bone, a hair, a limb, etc.)
; Second-Class Relics : An item that the saint wore (a sock, a shirt, a glove, etc.)
; Third-Class Relics : The Third-Class Relics above fall into two categories. The first category is a piece of cloth touched to the body of a saint. The second category is a piece of cloth brought to the shrine (or site of the vision) of the saint.
It is prohibited by the Catholic Church to sell First- and Second-Class Relics. When the church prohibits the selling of "sacred relics" it is referring to First- and Second-class relics. It is not referring to Third-class relics. It is not prohibited by the church to sell Third-Class Relics.
At Athens the supposed remains of Oedipus and Theseus enjoyed an honor that is very difficult to distinguish from a religious cult, while Plutarch gives accounts of the translation of the bodies of Demetrius (Demetrius iii) and Phocion (Phocion xxxvii) which in many details anticipate Christian practice. The bones or ashes of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, of Perdiccas I at Macedon, and even, according to if we may trust the statement the Chronicon Paschale (Dindorf, p. 67), of the Persian Zoroaster were treated with the deepest veneration.
Relic is also the term for something that has survived the passage of time, especially an object or custom whose original culture has disappeared, but also an object cherished for historical or memorial value (such as a keepsake or heirloom).Christian relics
History of Christian relics
Roman Catholic classification and prohibitions
Non-Christian relics
Cultural relics
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Relic."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
RELIC | English | Recall last incoming call | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: RelicSynonyms: keepsake (n), souvenir (n), token (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Memory | Things to be remembered, token of remembrance, memento, souvenir, keepsake, relic, memorabilia. |
Oldness | Seniority, eldership, primogeniture. archaism; (the past); thing of the past, relic of the past; megatherium; Sanskrit. |
Record | Noun: trace, vestige, relic, remains; scar, cicatrix; footstep, footmark, footprint; pug; track mark, wake, trail, scent, piste. |
Remainder | Noun: remainder, residue; remains, remanent, remnant, rest, relic; leavings, heeltap, odds and ends, cheesepairings, candle ends, orts; residuum; dregs; (dirt); refuse; (useless); stubble, result, educt; fag-end; ruins, wreck, skeleton., stump; alluvium. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Relic |
| English words defined with "relic": archeological remains ♦ Relik, Relique, Reliquian ♦ welwitschia, Welwitschia mirabilis. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "relic": Bands, Bride Cake ♦ Clavie ♦ Drinking Healths ♦ Kenno ♦ Patrick's Grave, Pyrrhic Dance ♦ Ram Feast ♦ Salutations ♦ Walton Bridle. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | A relic of the Cold War, who's boyish charms, though wasted on me, obviously appealed to the young lady I sent out to evaluate you. (GoldenEye; writing credit: Ian Fleming; Michael France) | |
Lyrics | Call me a relic, call me what you will ("Old Time Rock & Roll"; performing artist: Bob Seger) | |
Movie/TV Titles | A Relic of Old Japan (1914) Relic Hunter (1999) The Relic (1997) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | View in the Civil War exhibit area, March 1980, showing the sternpost of USS Kearsarge with an unexploded shell from CSS Alabama embedded in it, a relic of the 19 June 1864 battle between those two ships. Other artificts visible include the Historical Data Plaque of USS Cushing (DD-797), immediately to the right of the Kearsarge sternpost. Photographed by PH3c F. Brownson.Credit: NAVY. |  | A relic of the past.Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Chimney - relic of Spanish possession, Ormond, Fla.Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Old six-hole privy, historic relic at Wiggins Tavern, Northhampton, Massachusetts.Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Emily Bronte | Any relic of the dead is precious, if they were valued living. |
John Maynard Keynes | In truth, the gold standard is already a barbarous relic. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Communist Manifesto | 1848 | In Germany the petty-bourgeois class, a relic of the sixteenth century, and since then constantly cropping up again under various forms, is the real social basis of the existing state of things. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | What had he seen to be so pleased, this relic of Mars? |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Sri Lanka | LTTE terrorist activities, generally aimed at destabilizing Sri Lanka politically and economically, have included assassination of politicians--killing the Industrial Development Minister by suicide bombing in June 2000; bombing of economic targets such as the central bank in January 1996, the World Trade Center in October 1997, and the airport in July 2001; as well as attacks on Buddhist religious sites: in January 1998, the LTTE detonated a truck bomb in Kandy, damaging the Temple of the Tooth relic, the holiest Buddhist shrine in the country. (references) |
Political Economy | Sri Lanka | The January 1996 destruction of the Central Bank and surrounding buildings in Colombo's financial district, the October 1997 bombing of the World Trade Center and adjacent five-star hotels in the same vicinity and the January 1998 attack on the country's pre-eminent Buddhist shrine in Kandy, the Temple of the Tooth Relic, were particularly hard blows to investor (and tourist) confidence. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Relic" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.50% of the time. "Relic" is used about 200 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 99.5% | 199 | 21,651 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.5% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 200 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "relic" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Relic | Last name | 170 | 42,369 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "relic": an old relic ♦ archaeological relic ♦ archeological relic ♦ holy relic ♦ relic of antiquity ♦ relic of the past. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "relic": relic-bag, relic-house, relic-labels, relic-seller. | |
Ending with "relic": ghost-relic, tooth-relic. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "relic"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | relikë, kujtim i lashtë. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | أثر مقدس, أثر قديم (antique), رفات جثة, شىء باق على حاله (relict), بقية شىء. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | следа (footprint, ghost, odor, odour, print, rag, relish, remnant, rudiment, savor, savour, scar, scent, scintilla, shadow, show, shred, sign, spice, tang, touch, trace, track, trail, train, trait, vestige, whiff), спомен (keepsake, memento, memory, mind, remembrance, reminiscence), реликва, останка (hangover, remnant, rudiment, survival). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 遗物 (holdover). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | relikvie, pozùstatek (hangover, remain, throwback), památka (keepsake, memento, memory, monument, remembrance, souvenir). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | relikt (relict). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | relict (relict). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | یادگار (Memorial, Memory, Souvenir, Token), عتیقه (Antique, Curio), اثارمقدس , اثر (Affect, Clue, Consequence, Effect, Efficacy, Growth, Impress, Impression, Opus, Rake, Result, Rut, Sign, Symptom, Trace, Track, Tract, Umbrage, Vestige), باستانی (Ancient, Antiquarian, Antique, Gray, Old, Primer, Primeval). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | relikti (relict). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | relique (residue). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Rest (balance, carryover, end, left over, oddments, remain, remainder, remains, reminder, remnant, residual, residue, rest, scrap, surplus, tail), Reliquie, Relikt. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | υπόλειμμα (bottoms, discard, offcut, reject, relics, relique, remnant, residual, residual contamination, residue, residuum, residwe, scrap, trace, vestige, waste). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | שארית (remainder, remnant, residue, rest), שאר (remainder, residue, rest), שרי" מקו"ש, שרי" ק"ום. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | ereklye (phylactery). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | pusaka (heirloom, heritage), peninggalan (debris, estate, inheritance, remainder), jimat (amulet, mascot, talisman). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | resto (change, leftovers, oddment, remainder, remnant, residual, rest), relitto (derelict, outcast, relict, shipwreck, wreck, wreckage), reliquia, cimelio (antique, trophy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 遺物 (momento), 遺愛 (bequest). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | いぶつ (foreign body, foreign substance, momento, xeno), いあい (bequest, iai). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | taaishnys, freiltagh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | elicray relíquia (relict, survival). (various references) relicvã, rãmãşiţe pãmânteşti (dust, mortal remains), urmã (atom, clew, clue, footmark, footprint, furrow, impress, impression, imprint, indent, jot, Mark, patent office, print, pug, rear, rearward, remnant, rut, scent, seal, shadow, sign, slot, spoor, stamp, step, trace, track, trail, vestige, wake), moaşte (relics, shrine), amintire (keepsake, memento, memorial, memory, mention, mind, phantom, recollection, remembrance, souvenir, token). (various references) реликт. (various references) relikvija, ostatak (leftover, odd-come-short, oddment, remain, remainder, remnant, residual, residue, residuum, rest, rump, vestige). (various references) reliquia (alive, hold over, survival). (various references) relik (reliquiae), lämning. (various references) yadigâr (commemorative, memento, remembrance, survival, token), kutsal emanet, kalıntı (carcase, carcass, end, hangover, remainder, remnant, residual, residue, rest, ruins, rump, spoils, waif), hatıra (commemorative, heirloom, keepsake, memento, memory, recollection, remembrance, souvenir, survival, token), eski eser. (various references) сувенір (memento, remembrance, souvenir, token), слід (behove, footmark, footprint, footstep, imprint, ought, print, remnant, scent, should, spoor, trace, track, trail, tread, wake), залишок (carry over, end, left over, remainder, remains, remnant, residual, stump, vestige, vestigium), пережиток (hangover, holdover, left over, survival). (various references) crair. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "relic": relicense, relicensed, relicenses, relicensing, relicensure, relicensures, relics, relict, reliction, relictions, relicts. (additional references) | |
Words containing "relic": derelict, dereliction, derelictions, derelicts. (additional references) | |
| |
"Relic" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: belic, bellic, breslich, delic, Delich, elic, elik, ellic, elric, felic, gelic, helic, kelic, Krilich, Orelia, pelic, raic, rajic, rakic, Ralik, rapic, redic, Refik, reice, reik, reil, relah, relaw, relei, reli, relia, relick, relie, relif, relig, reliq, relix, rellic, relliv, relo, relus, Relypck, remic, repitch, retic, ridic, rli, rolic, ropic, rylic. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "relic" (pronounced re"lik) |
| 4 | -e" l i k | allelic, angelic, psychedelic. |
| 3 | -l i k | acrylic, alcoholic, Alec, anabolic, anencephalic, bucolic, catholic, diastolic, frolic, gallic, garlic, hydraulic, hydrophilic, hyperbolic, idyllic, italic, melancholic, metabolic, metallic, nonalcoholic, nonpublic, parabolic, pedophilic, phallic, phenolic, public, shashlik, symbolic, vitriolic, workaholic. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-i-l-r" | |
-1 letter: ceil, cire, lice, lier, lire, rice, riel, rile. | |
-2 letters: cel, ice, ire, lei, lie, rec, rei. | |
-3 letters: el, er, li, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-i-l-r" | |
+1 letter: ceiler, circle, cleric, clerid, coiler, eclair, lacier, licker, recoil, relics, relict, slicer. | |
+2 letters: article, auricle, brickle, bricole, caliber, calibre, caliper, calorie, cariole, carline, caviler, ceilers, charlie, chervil, chiller, circled, circler, circles, circlet, claimer, claries, clavier, clayier, clerics, clerids, clerisy, clicker, climber, clinger, clinker, clipper, clivers, coalier, coilers, collier, corbeil, crimple, cringle, crinkle, cripple, curlier, decrial, eclairs, eldrich, fickler, filcher, flicker, flueric, glacier, gracile, lickers, loricae, lucifer, luckier, mickler, miracle, peloric, prickle, radicel, radicle, recital, reclaim, recline, recoils, relicts, replica, reticle, scalier, slicers, slicker, splicer, tickler, tiercel, trickle, utricle, valeric. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)52 65 6C 69 63 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).-. . .-.. .. -.-. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010010 01100101 01101100 01101001 01100011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)R e l i c |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0052 0065 006C 0069 0063 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5271787569 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Historic 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Names: Frequency 14. Expressions 15. Expressions: Internet 16. Translations: Modern | 17. Abbreviations 18. Acronyms 19. Derivations 20. Rhymes | 21. Anagrams 22. Orthography 23. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
