[I]n general, as now used, the term classical includes the composers active in instrumental music from somewhere about 1700 to say 1830. Hence the list includes among the great names those of Bach, his sons, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi, Dussek, Pleyel, Cramer, etc. The next step beyond the term classical is "modern romantic," the composers of which school may be taken to include all the writers for pianoforte from about 1829 (when Mendelssohn published the first "Songs without Words") down to the present. The term romantic in this sense means strongly marked, extraordinary, intending to tell stories and the like. ["Music, Its Ideals and Methods," W.S.B. Mathews, 1897]
But already by 1880s it was acknowledged the term had a double sense: Music that had withstood the test of time, as well as music of a style contrasted to "romantic." Later (early 20c.) it was contrasted to jazz (in this sense more often with reference to the orchestras than to the music itself). Still later in contrast to popular music generally (mid-20c.).来源于拉丁语名词classis(古罗马人的分类),古罗马人按土地和财富被分成六类,其中最高级别的人是classicus。
词根词缀： class分类 + -ical形容词词尾,表性状
同源词：class, classic, classify, classified, classification词义辨异：classic 第一流的,最上等的classical 古典(文学,艺术)的
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：classical 词源，classical 含义。
来自classic,在词义和使用上其区别不断缩小或通用。