aion

Aion is a term with multiple meanings across language, myth, and modern technology. It originates from the Greek aiōn, meaning an age or an indefinitely long span of time, and is often associated with concepts of eternity or cosmic ages.

In classical and Hellenistic usage, aiōn denotes a long, indefinite period and is distinct from chronos, time as a measured sequence. The word also appears in philosophical and religious contexts to describe overarching ages of the world or the eternal aspects of time. In ancient religious and later Gnostic thought, aion can function as a personification of eternal time or as a label for emanations associated with cosmic order, sometimes linked to celestial cycles such as the zodiac.

In popular culture and contemporary technology, Aion refers to several modern entities. Aion is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by NCsoft, released in 2009, known for its flying ability and factional warfare set in a high-fantasy world. Separately, Aion is a blockchain platform designed to enable interoperability between different blockchains through a multi-tier network, originally developed by the Nuco/Aion Foundation, and it uses a native token to support its ecosystem. The term in these modern uses is inspired by the original sense of time, age, or epoch, applying it to expansive, interconnected systems or immersive virtual worlds.

In summary, Aion can denote a timeless concept in Greek philosophy, a mythological or cosmological figure, and several contemporary uses in gaming and blockchain technology.