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Asiatic

[ey-zhee-at-ik, ey-shee-, ey-zee-]
adjective
  1. Asian.
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noun Usually Offensive.
  1. an Asian person.
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Origin of Asiatic

1625–35; < Latin Asiāticus < Greek Asiātikos. See Asia, -tic
Related formsA·si·at·i·cal·ly, adverbhalf-A·si·at·ic, adjectivenon-A·si·at·ic, adjective, nounpro-A·si·at·ic, adjectivetrans-A·si·at·ic, adjective
Can be confusedAsian Asiatic Oriental (see usage note at Asian)

Usage note

See Asian.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for asiatic

Historical Examples

  • As is usual in Asiatic warfare, it was considerably pressed.

    The Story of the Malakand Field Force

    Sir Winston S. Churchill

  • Of the Asiatic islands Java has the largest and oldest railroad system.

    The Railroad Question

    William Larrabee

  • He hints at 'Asiatic multiplicity,' but this is only when he has taken too much claret.

    James Boswell

    William Keith Leask

  • Her people are endowed with some of the highest qualities of the European and the Asiatic.

    England and Germany

    Emile Joseph Dillon

  • It is neither Asiatic nor mediaeval in its essential character.

British Dictionary definitions for asiatic

Asiatic

noun, adjective
  1. a word formerly used for Asian
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usage

Asiatic is the correct word to use in scientific language when talking about flora, fauna and anthropology, for instance Asiatic lion . Using it as a noun is offensive and old-fashioned
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

Word Origin and History for asiatic

Asiatic

adj.

1630s, from Latin Asiaticus (surname of Latin Corn. Scipio), from Greek Asiatikos, from Asia (see Asia; also cf. Asian). As a noun, by 1763. In ancient Rome, Asiatici oratores was florid and overly ornate prose.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper