Etymology

classic

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Today it means: Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art. Full definition →

French classique ← Latin classic(us)
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromclassic(us)“relating to the classes of Roman citizenry, especially the highest”
  2. French · borrowed fromclassique
  3. English todayclassic

From French classique, from Latin classic(us) (“relating to the classes of Roman citizenry, especially the highest”), from classis. By surface analysis, class + -ic. Piecewise doublet of classy.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.