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Coeval / Contemporary

zăpadă

Senior Member
Limba Arabă
Hi guys ,

Is there any difference between Coeval and Contemporary in this phrase.

e.i " .. A coeval / contemporary armchair. "



I speculate that coeval is less common . 👁 Smile :)
I haven't seen 'coeval' used attributively like that. I would expect something - an artefact, an event, a person - to be 'coeval with the Pyramids', 'coeval with the advent of printing'.
Funnily enough, I'm more used to hearing it used as a noun, like a rather scientific sounding contemporary. As nouns, I see coeval being to contemporary rather what female can be to woman.
Further to the comments above, 'a contemporary armchair' could mean an armchair that had a 'modern' design (in the period in which the armchair was being described). I don't believe 'coeval' could be used in this sense; at least I don't think I've ever seen it and wouldn't understand it as such if I did.
I agree with entangledbank.

I haven't seen 'coeval' used attributively like that. I would expect something - an artefact, an event, a person - to be 'coeval with the Pyramids', 'coeval with the advent of printing'.

Coeval has to be used predicatively and needs a prepositional phrase as a modifier. (Latin co- together + aevum age - there is no assumption that the age refers to the present age.)

Also, I wanted to add that you'd probably be more likely to find coeval used in writing rather than in speech, and a more formal writing style at that.
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