relict
UK[ˈrelɪkt]US[ˈrelɪkt]
n
an organism, species, or community that has survived from an earlier period but is now geographically isolated or in a much reduced environment.
n
a widow (archaic or formal usage).
adj
surviving as a remnant of a former period or condition.
Morpheme Breakdown
relict
relict
Etymology
the word 'relict' entered english in the late middle english period, borrowed directly from the latin past participle 'relictus', meaning 'left behind' or 'abandoned', from the verb 'relinquere' (to leave behind). this latin verb itself is composed of the intensive prefix 're-' and 'linquere' (to leave), tracing back to the proto-indo-european root leikw- (to leave). the semantic journey is direct: from the core idea of being 'left behind', it came to describe a widow (a wife left behind by her husband) and, in scientific contexts, a species or feature that has survived while its counterparts have vanished, left behind by the passage of time.
Analysis
Structure: relict
the word is a simplex loanword from latin. it is not segmentable into smaller meaningful parts using its modern english spelling.
Examples
the ginkgo tree is considered a living fossil, a relict species from the time of the dinosaurs.
in the legal document, she was referred to as the relict of the deceased landowner.
they discovered a relict population of arctic plants on the isolated mountain peak.