An anachronism is something that is out of place in terms of time or chronology. The word derives from
chronos, the Greek word for "time," and
ana-, a Greek prefix meaning "up," "back," or "again." In its earliest English use,
anachronism referred to an error in the dating of something (as, for example, in etymology, when a word or use is mistakenly assumed to have arisen earlier than it did). Anachronisms were sometimes distinguished from
parachronisms, chronological errors in which dates are set later than is correct. But
parachronism did not stand the test of time. It is now a very rare word.
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