means An object surviving from an earlier time, valued as a memento of the past or venerated as a holy remnant.

from From Latin reliquiae, 'remains, remnants,' from relinquere 'to leave behind' (re- 'back' + linquere 'to leave,' a cousin of Greek leipein and English 'loan'). It entered English through Old French relique, where it first clung to the bones and belongings of saints — literally the things left behind by the dead, then anything left behind by time.