Classics

How to spell classics

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce classics

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does classics mean?

1. nounWorks of literature, music, film, or design judged to be of the highest and most lasting quality.
2. nounThe academic study of ancient Greek and Roman language, literature, and civilisation.

Classics in a sentence

• The film festival devoted a whole evening to old Hollywood classics.

• She read classics at university and can still translate Latin verse.

• Her bookshelf was crowded with literary classics she reread every year.

• The department of classics offers courses in both Greek and Latin.

Where does classics come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin classicus, an adjective meaning 'belonging to a class' and, more specifically, 'of the highest class of citizens'. That sense came from classis, the term used to divide the Roman population into ranks for taxation and military service, so a classicus author was originally a 'first-class', top-rank writer worth imitating. English took the word in during the late 1500s, first describing the finest Greek and Roman authors and then, by extension, anything of acknowledged top quality. The plural 'classics' developed naturally to name the body of such great works, and from the 1700s it became the standard label for the university study of ancient Greek and Latin language and culture. A useful spelling reminder is that the everyday word 'class' sits intact at the start, with the regular plural -s simply added on the end.

How the word is built

• class- (from Latin classis: a division or rank of citizens)
• -ic (forming a noun/adjective)
• -s (plural)