Meanings
plural reliquaries
- lifestyleA container to hold or display religious relics.
And whether you think of those little cans as intellectual puzzles or reliquaries or scams, there are surprises inside.
2009 February 13, Holland Cotter, “To Bump Off Art as He Knew It”, in New York Times1 more example
“… There is an ivory virgin of the fourteenth century. I once found a buyer for that piece, but the old boy would not sell it.[…]The other piece—the one that concerns us—is known as the Borgia reliquary.”
1935, Francis Beeding, “4/1”, in The Norwich Victims - figurativelyAn object that sustains the memory of past people or events.
- lawA person who owes a balance.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*leykʷ-
- Late Latinreliquiarium
- Middle Frenchreliquaire
- Englishreliquary
Borrowed from Middle French reliquaire (modern French reliquaire), from Late Latin reliquiarium, from rēliquia (“a relic”) (English relic), noun use of reliquus (“abandoned, left behind, relict”), from relinquō (“to relinquish”), from re- (“again”) and linquō (“to leave”), from Proto-Indo-European *leykʷ-.
More words from Middle French, Late Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian мощехранителница
- мощехранителница (moštehranitelnica)container for religious relics
Catalan reliquiari
- reliquiaricontainer for religious relics
Chinese Mandarin 聖物箱 /圣物箱
- 聖物箱 /圣物箱 (shèngwùxiāng)container for religious relics
Czech relikviář
- relikviářcontainer for religious relics
Dutch reliekhouder
- reliekhoudercontainer for religious relics
Esperanto relikvujo
- relikvujocontainer for religious relics
Finnish pyhäinjäännöslipas, relikvaario
- pyhäinjäännöslipascontainer for religious relics
- relikvaariocontainer for religious relics
French reliquaire
- reliquairecontainer for religious relics
German Reliquienschrein, Reliquiar
- Reliquienschreincontainer for religious relics
- Reliquiarcontainer for religious relics
Greek λειψανοθήκη
- λειψανοθήκη (leipsanothíki)container for religious relics
Hungarian ereklyetartó
- ereklyetartócontainer for religious relics
Icelandic helgiskrín
- helgiskríncontainer for religious relics
Irish taiseagán, cathach
- taiseagáncontainer for religious relics
- cathachcontainer for religious relics
Italian reliquiario, lipsanoteca
- reliquiariocontainer for religious relics
- lipsanotecacontainer for religious relics
Polish relikwiarz
- relikwiarzcontainer for religious relics
Portuguese relicário
- relicáriocontainer for religious relics
Romanian relicvariu
- relicvariucontainer for religious relics
Russian реликва́рий, мощевик
- реликва́рий (relikvárij)container for religious relics
- мощевик (moščevik)container for religious relics
Spanish relicario
- relicariocontainer for religious relics
Swedish relikskrin, relikvarium
- relikskrincontainer for religious relics
- relikvariumcontainer for religious relics
Thai ธาตุ
- ธาตุ (tâat)container for religious relics
Turkish röliker
- rölikercontainer for religious relics
Ukrainian реліква́рій
- реліква́рій (relikvárij)container for religious relics
Cite this entry
reliquary. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reliquary
“reliquary.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reliquary. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reliquary,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reliquary.
Source: reliquary on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.