relic

American  

[rel-ik] / ˈrɛl ɪk /

noun

relics plural

1. a surviving memorial of something past.

2. an object having interest by reason of its age or its association with the past.

   a museum of historic relics.

3. a surviving trace of something.

   a custom that is a relic of paganism.

4. relics,

   1. remaining parts or fragments.

   2. the remains of a deceased person.

5. something kept in remembrance; souvenir; memento.

6. Ecclesiastical. (especially in the Roman Catholic and Greek churches) the body, a part of the body, or some personal memorial of a saint, martyr, or other sacred person, preserved as worthy of veneration.

7. a once widespread linguistic form that survives in a limited area but is otherwise obsolete.

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relic British  

/ ˈrɛlɪk /

noun

1. something that has survived from the past, such as an object or custom

2. something kept as a remembrance or treasured for its past associations; keepsake

3. (usually plural) a remaining part or fragment

4. RC Church Eastern Churches part of the body of a saint or something supposedly used by or associated with a saint, venerated as holy

5. informal an old or old-fashioned person or thing

6. archaic (plural) the remains of a dead person; corpse

7. ecology a less common term for relict

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• reliclike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• relics
  plural

Etymology

Origin of relic

1175–1225; Middle English < Old French relique < Latin reliquiae (plural) remains (> Old English reliquias ), equivalent to reliqu ( us ) remaining + -iae plural noun suffix

Explanation

A relic is a fragment from the past — one of Elvis's guitars, an ancient piece of pottery or even an outmoded way of thinking -– that remains behind. Your dad might love his old albums, but to you, they're just relics. The noun relic is derived from relinquere, Latin for "to leave behind." A crumbling Roman wall is a relic of a once-great civilization. The superstition that seven years of bad luck will follow if you break a mirror may be a relic of the old superstition that a mirror can trap the souls of those reflected in it. Whether it's an object or an idea, a relic is a remnant of the past. Religious relics are items, such as Buddha’s tooth or St. Anne’s wrist bone, that have been preserved and venerated.

Example Sentences

As long as the idea remains that property gets its purpose from those tending it, working it, nourishing it and dying on it, the film will never become a relic.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2026

As work-from-home rates slowly decline, the stay-at-home model is becoming a relic of the pandemic.

From MarketWatch • Jun. 27, 2026

And of course there are photographs everywhere, and on the “kitchen table” is one of Linda McCartney’s cameras, which feels like a holy relic.

From Salon • Jun. 23, 2026

One of the most well known examples is the Holy Face of Manoppello, a religious relic preserved in Italy for centuries that is believed to have been made from sea silk.

From Science Daily • Jun. 12, 2026

The Appalachians are the home of one of the world’s great hardwood forests—the expansive relic of the richest, most diversified sweep of woodland ever to grace the temperate world—and that forest is in trouble.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Related Words

• antique
• antiquity
• artifact
• curio
• evidence
• fragment
• keepsake
• memento
• monument
• remains
• remnant
• souvenir