Kanji 代 substitute, change, convert Related words· 6 昔 is a casual, everyday word for 'the old days' or 'the past,' while 古代 refers specifically to the formal historical period of antiquity.
古代 refers to historically documented ancient eras like ancient Japan or Greece, while 太古 points to an even more remote, often prehistoric or mythological past.
古代 is the everyday word for 'ancient times', while 前世 is a more literary term for a past era.
古代 is the standard, neutral historical term for ancient times, while 古 is a poetic, nostalgic word for antiquity.
Show 2 more Show fewer 古代 refers to ancient/classical antiquity, which comes chronologically before 中世 .
古代 refers to a specific historical period (like 'ancient times' in history books), while 大昔 is a vaguer, more colloquial expression for a distant past.
Opposites 現代 means 'modern times, the present era,' the direct chronological opposite of 古代 's 'ancient times.'
古代 means ancient times, standing in contrast to 近代 , which refers to the modern era.
Don't confuse with 中世 is the medieval period that comes right after 古代 in historical chronology, so learners often mix up which era each term names.
近代 means 'the modern era' (roughly the 19th to early 20th century), and its similar sound and structure to 古代 can lead learners to confuse the two despite them being at opposite ends of history.
古来 is an adverb meaning 'since ancient times', while 古代 is a noun referring to 'ancient times/antiquity' itself, so they cannot be swapped grammatically.
Word family· 16 ancient civilization
ancient people; the ancients
ancient history
ancient rice varieties; wild rice
reddish-purple; ancient purple
Show 5 more Show fewer ancient Japanese; Old Japanese
ancient China
ancient script; ancient characters
ancient cloth fragment
classical antiquity; Greek and Roman eras
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Etymology Compound of 古 (old) and 代 (era/age). The reading こだい is the on'yomi (Sino-Japanese) reading of the characters.
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