medieval
Definitions
Relating to the Middle Ages (roughly 5th–15th century in Europe).
中世纪的（约公元 5–15 世纪的欧洲）。
(informal, disapproving) Old-fashioned, primitive, or harshly outdated.
（非正式，贬义）老旧的，落后的，野蛮的。
Root Breakdown
Root-derivedmedi (middle) + aev- (age, from Latin aevum) + -al = 'of the middle age.' Coined by later historians for the era they saw as sitting *between* the classical world and the Renaissance — literally the 'middle ages.' The informal insult ('that's so medieval') borrows the era's reputation for being harsh and backward.
Root medi still carries 48 more wordsWhy It Means This
The word is itself a piece of history: people living in the Middle Ages never called their own time 'middle' — the label was applied centuries later by Renaissance thinkers who saw their era as a revival of antiquity, with a 'middle' period of decline in between. So 'medieval' encodes a value judgment: the time between two golden ages — which is also why the casual insult sense ('medieval = backward') took hold so easily.
Common Collocations
- 1.medieval times中世纪时期
- 2.medieval castle中世纪城堡
- 3.medieval history中世纪历史
- 4.medieval Europe中世纪欧洲
Example Sentences
- 1.
The museum has a fine collection of medieval armour.
- 2.
Their attitude to women's rights is positively medieval.