Akkad

American  

[ak-ad, ah-kahd] / ˈæk æd, ˈɑ kɑd /

noun

1. one of the ancient kingdoms of Mesopotamia, the northern division of Babylonia.

2. Also Agade Achad a city in and the capital of an ancient kingdom in Mesopotamia: according to the Bible, one of the three cities of Nimrod's kingdom.

---

adjective

1. Akkadian.

Akkad British  

/ ˈækæd /

noun

1. Ancient name: Agade.  a city on the Euphrates in N Babylonia, the centre of a major empire and civilization (2360–2180 _bc )

2. an ancient region lying north of Babylon, from which the Akkadian language and culture is named

---

Example Sentences

The book poured out of El Akkad, though normally a slow writer: “I was writing quite furiously for months on end,” he told Dan Sheehan of Lithub.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 8, 2025

Lots of people have tried to imagine a 21st century U.S. civil war, but none have succeeded as much as Omar El Akkad with American War.

From Slate • Feb. 18, 2023

“Ahmad’s compassion and deep care for the psychological and emotional nuances of her characters never wavers, no matter how monstrous or self-interested or defeated they become,” Omar El Akkad writes in his review.

From New York Times • Apr. 7, 2022

El Akkad, 39, moved to Canada when he was 16, and went to high school in Montreal before attending Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 8, 2021

At present our understanding is meager—probably because disarmament budgets have, since the time of Sargon of Akkad, been somewhere between ineffective and nonexistent.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan