古代 (こだい, kodai) Japanese meaning: ancient times

古代 (こだい, kodai) Japanese meaning: ancient times | Kotomora

Kanji

昔むかしN4
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.
太たい古こ
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.
前ぜん世せい
古代 is the everyday word for 'ancient times', while 前世 is a more literary term for a past era.
古いにしえN1
古代 is the standard, neutral historical term for ancient times, while 古 is a poetic, nostalgic word for antiquity.

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中ちゅう世せいN2
古代 refers to ancient/classical antiquity, which comes chronologically before 中世.
大おお昔むかし
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.

現げん代だいN3
現代 means 'modern times, the present era,' the direct chronological opposite of 古代's 'ancient times.'
近きん代だいN3
古代 means ancient times, standing in contrast to 近代, which refers to the modern era.

中ちゅう世せいN2
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.
近きん代だいN3
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.
古こ来らい
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.

Compound of 古 (old) and 代 (era/age). The reading こだい is the on'yomi (Sino-Japanese) reading of the characters.