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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

historic.

Very important; noteworthy: having importance or significance in history.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/hɪˈstɒɹɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ɪˈstɒɹɪk/Received-Pronunciation/hɪˈstoɹɪk/General-American/ɪˈstoɹɪk/General-American

  1. Very important; noteworthy: having importance or significance in history.

    A historic opportunity
    July 4, 1776, is a historic date. A great deal of historical research has been done on the events leading up to that day.

  2. Old-fashioned, untouched by modernity.

  3. Synonym of historical: of, concerning, or in accordance with recorded history or the past generally (See usage notes.)

    uncommon

  4. Various grammatical tenses and moods specially used in retelling past events.

    The historic tenses include the imperfect, the pluperfect, and the future perfect.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyd- Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Indo-European *wéydtōr Proto-Hellenic *wístōr Ancient Greek ῐ̔́στωρ (hĭ́stōr) Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *-eyéti Proto-Indo-European *-esyéti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Ancient Greek -έω (-éō) Ancient Greek ῐ̔στορέω (hĭstoréō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek ῐ̔στορῐ́ᾱ (hĭstorĭ́ā)bor. Latin historia Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin historicusder. English historic From Latin historicus (“historical”), from Ancient Greek ἱστορικός (historikós, “exact; historical”). Cognate with French historique. By surface analysis, history + -ic.

noun/hɪˈstɒɹɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ɪˈstɒɹɪk/Received-Pronunciation/hɪˈstoɹɪk/General-American/ɪˈstoɹɪk/General-American

  1. A history, a non-fiction account of the past.

    obsolete

  2. A historian.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyd- Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Indo-European *wéydtōr Proto-Hellenic *wístōr Ancient Greek ῐ̔́στωρ (hĭ́stōr) Proto-Indo-European *-eti Proto-Indo-European *-eyéti Proto-Indo-European *-esyéti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Ancient Greek -έω (-éō) Ancient Greek ῐ̔στορέω (hĭstoréō) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek ῐ̔στορῐ́ᾱ (hĭstorĭ́ā)bor. Latin historia Proto-Indo-European *-ikos Proto-Italic *-ikos Latin -icus Latin historicusder. English historic From Latin historicus (“historical”), from Ancient Greek ἱστορικός (historikós, “exact; historical”). Cognate with French historique. By surface analysis, history + -ic.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.