Akkadian

American  

[uh-key-dee-uhn, uh-kah-] / əˈkeɪ di ən, əˈkɑ- /

Or Accadian

noun

1. the eastern Semitic language, now extinct, of Assyria and Babylonia, written with a cuneiform script.

2. one of the Akkadian people.

3. Obsolete. Sumerian.

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adjective

1. of or belonging to Akkad.

2. of or relating to the eastern Semitic language called Akkadian.

3. Obsolete. Sumerian.

Akkadian British  

/ əˈkædɪən, əˈkeɪ- /

noun

1. a member of an ancient Semitic people who lived in central Mesopotamia in the third millennium _bc

2. the extinct language of this people, belonging to the E Semitic subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family

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adjective

1. of or relating to this people or their language

Etymology

Origin of Akkadian

First recorded in 1850–55; Akkad + -ian

Example Sentences

The alabaster vase bears inscriptions in four ancient languages: Akkadian, Elamite, Persian, and Egyptian.

From Science Daily • Dec. 18, 2025

It now receives hundreds of queries per week, and similar efforts are being applied to languages from Korean to Akkadian, which was used in ancient Mesopotamia.

From Scientific American • Oct. 17, 2023

And then shortly after that, we also found some passages written in an ancient Semitic language called Akkadian that is related to Hebrew and Arabic today.

From Scientific American • May 18, 2023

Sumerian and Akkadian became the languages of religious rituals, hymns, and prayers, as well as classic literary works such as the Epic of Gilgamesh.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

Delitzsch regards as being distinct from the word for mountain, notwithstanding that they are both expressed by the same word in Akkadian, and renders it by the words “lord,” “commander.”

From The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia by Pinches, Theophilus Goldridge