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.

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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

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adjective

1. of or relating to this people or their language

Etymology

Origin of Akkadian

First recorded in 1850–55; Akkad + -ian

Example Sentences

The alabaster vase bears inscriptions in four ancient languages: Akkadian, Elamite, Persian, and Egyptian.

From Science Daily • Dec. 18, 2025

Historians and linguists generally agree that Sumerian, Akkadian and Egyptian are the oldest languages with a clear written record.

From Scientific American • Aug. 24, 2023

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

From Scientific American • Aug. 24, 2023

The period of independent city-states came to an end with the rise of the world’s first empire, the Akkadian Empire of Sargon of Akkad.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

The script was then quite unfamiliar and it was thought that they were written in a language neither Semitic nor Akkadian.

From Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters by Johns, C. H. W. (Claude Hermann Walter)