According to their derivation, παλαιός is that which has been in existence for a long time, ἀρχαῖος that which has been from the beginning. In use, at times no distinction can be drawn. Often, however, ἀρχαῖος does denote distinctively that which has been from the beginning, and so it reaches back to a point of time beyond παλαιός. παλαιός has often the secondary meaning of that which is old and so worn out, having suffered more or less from the injuries and ravages of time, its opposite in this sense being καινός.