# antediluvian

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˌæn.tɪ.dɪˈluː.vɪ.ən/ · frequency rank #86,013

## Definitions
1. Belonging or pertaining to, or existing in, the time prior to the great flood described in Genesis, or (by extension) to a great or destructive flood or deluge described in other mythologies.
2. Of animals and plants: long extinct; prehistoric.
3. Of a person or thing: very old; ancient.
4. Of attitudes, ideas, etc.: extremely old-fashioned, especially to a laughable extent; antiquated.

## Etymology
PIE word
 *dwís
From ante- (prefix meaning ‘prior to in time’) + Latin dīluvium (“a flood”) + -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives; and forming agent nouns), referring the story of Noah’s Ark, through which God rescues Noah, his family, and examples of all the world’s animals from the great flood, which is related in Genesis 6–9 of the Bible. Dīluvium is derived from dīluō (“to wash away”) (from dis- (prefix meaning ‘apart, asunder, in two’) + lavō (“to wash”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”))) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns). The English word is analyzable as ante- + diluvian.
Adjective sense 2 (“long extinct”) is from the fact that such animals and plants were originally believed to have perished in the biblical flood referred to above.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/antediluvian