Question

I fell into one of those online list rabbit holes and wasted nearly an hour reading about surprising things that are coeval, like the first fax machine and pioneers heading west on the Oregon Trail.

What does the word "coeval" mean in this context? Use these dictionary entries to answer the question:

co- (prefix) with, together

-ev (suffix) time period, era

Answer 1

"Coeval" means existing at the same time or belonging to the same period or era.

Breakdown from the parts you gave:
- co- = with, together
- -ev = time period, era

So co- + -ev = "together in time" (i.e., contemporary). In your example, the first fax machine and pioneers on the Oregon Trail are coeval because they happened around the same historical period, even though they seem unrelated.