Achaean

[ uh-kee-uhn ]

adjective

of or relating to Achaea or the Achaeans.
(in the Iliad) Greek.

noun

an inhabitant of Achaea.
a Greek, especially a member of the Achaean League.

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

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. 2023

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.
Myth, Ritual, and Religion, Vol. 1 | Andrew Lang
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

a member of a principal Greek tribe in the Mycenaean era
a native or inhabitant of the later Greek province of Achaea

adjective

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

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