Achaean

[ uh-kee-uhn ]

adjective
  1. of or relating to Achaea or the Achaeans.

  2. (in the Iliad) Greek.

noun
  1. an inhabitant of Achaea.

  2. a Greek, especially a member of the Achaean League.

  1. a member of one of the four main divisions of prehistoric Greeks, believed to have occupied the Peloponnesus and to have produced the Mycenaean culture.: Compare Aeolian2 (def. 3), Dorian1 (def. 2), Ionian (def. 3).

Origin of Achaean

1
1560–70; <Latin Achae(us) (<Greek Achaiós, perhaps reflected in Hittite Ahhiyawa, a country alluded to in records of the late 2nd millennium b.c.) + -an

Words Nearby Achaean

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Achaean in a sentence

  • We cannot tell how long previous to his own date the poet supposes the Achaean heroes to have existed.

    Homer and His Age | Andrew Lang
  • Sir John is not sure that Achaean spear-heads were not of copper, for they twice double up against a shield.

    Homer and His Age | Andrew Lang
  • In Achaean Pharae he found some thirty squared stones, named each after a god.

  • But Achilles was an Achaean, and the same is true of most of the other chief heroes.

    The Heroic Age | H. Munro Chadwick
  • Achilles is the only one of the chief Achaean leaders who can be referred to Thessaly.

    The Heroic Age | H. Munro Chadwick

British Dictionary definitions for Achaean

Achaean

Achaian (əˈkaɪən)

/ (əˈkiːən) /


noun
  1. a member of a principal Greek tribe in the Mycenaean era

  2. a native or inhabitant of the later Greek province of Achaea

adjective
  1. of or relating to Achaea or the Achaeans

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012