Sumerian
Americanadjective
noun
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a native or inhabitant of Sumer.
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a language of unknown affinities that was the language of the Sumerians and had, in the late 4th and 3rd millenniums b.c., a well-developed literature that is preserved in pictographic and cuneiform writing and represents the world's oldest extant written documents.
noun
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a member of a people who established a civilization in Sumer during the 4th millennium bc
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the extinct language of this people, of no known relationship to any other language
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Sumerian
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Recent years have seen attempts to recreate the beer of the Vikings, the Late Shang and Western Zhou dynasties of China, and the Sumerians, who are believed to have invented beer.
From New York Times • Jun. 20, 2024
The Sumerians of Mesopotamia devised a love song by around 2000 BCE, and scholars of Ancient Egypt have found love songs inscribed into pottery and written on sheets of papyrus.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2024
Shaving facial hair dates as far back as the Sumerians and Egyptians, who used razors made of copper or bronze.
From National Geographic • Nov. 7, 2023
The ancient Sumerians were an inventive people responsible for a host of technological advances, most notably a sophisticated writing system.
From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023
Anyone hoping to discover how Sumerians of 3000 B.C. thought and felt is in for a disappointment.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
