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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.


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

"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

adjective

  1. of or relating to this people or their language

"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

Etymology

Origin of Akkadian

First recorded in 1850–55; Akkad + -ian

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.

See Examples For:

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

Among these languages are Sumerian and Akkadian, both dating back at least 4,600 years.

From Scientific American Aug. 24, 2023

Nonetheless, scribes continued to preserve and write works in Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform.

From Textbooks Apr. 19, 2023

The Akkadian King Kudea—a Mongol—was ruling in 2500 b.c. in North Syria, and sent for granite to Sinai.

From Egyptian Literature Comprising Egyptian tales, hymns, litanies, invocations, the Book of the Dead, and cuneiform writings by Epiphanius Wilson

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