artefact

British  

/ ˈɑːtɪˌfækt /

noun

1. something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest

2. anything man-made, such as a spurious experimental result

3. cytology a structure seen in tissue after death, fixation, staining, etc, that is not normally present in the living tissue

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Etymology

Origin of artefact

C19: from Latin phrase arte factum, from ars skill + facere to make

Example Sentences

"Some things are too precious to take a risk with," the artist wrote in an opinion piece for the daily Independent about plans for the 11th-century artefact.

From Barron's • Jan. 15, 2026

Visitors can also see the Khufu Sun Boat, described as the oldest and largest wooden artefact in human history, while a second solar boat is being restored.

From Barron's • Nov. 4, 2025

But it remains unclear how someone was able to get such a heavy, conspicuous artefact out of the country without the authorities apparently noticing.

From BBC • Aug. 9, 2025

There's also no bilingual artefact like the Rosetta Stone, which helped scholars decode Egyptian hieroglyphs.

From BBC • Jan. 16, 2025

Simon Schaffer’s account of Newton’s experimentum crucis; again, the claim that replication was a social artefact turns out to be false.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton