Hittite

American  

[hit-ahyt] / ˈhɪt aɪt /

noun

1. a member of an ancient people who established a powerful empire in Asia Minor and Syria, dominant from about 1900 to 1200 b.c.

2. an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of Indo-European, preserved in cuneiform inscriptions of the second millennium b.c.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Hittites or their language.

Hittite British  

/ ˈhɪtaɪt /

noun

1. a member of an ancient people of Anatolia, who built a great empire in N Syria and Asia Minor in the second millennium _bc

2. the extinct language of this people, deciphered from cuneiform inscriptions found at Boǧazköy and elsewhere. It is clearly related to the Indo-European family of languages, although the precise relationship is disputed

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adjective

1. of or relating to this people, their civilization, or their language

Other Word Forms

• post-Hittite
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Hittite

1600–10; < Hebrew ḥitt ( īm ) Hittite (compare Hittite Khatti ) + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Hittite

Archaeological digs for Hittite antiquities aimed to provide the new republic with a past rooted even more deeply than Greece and Italy.

From New York Times ● May 25, 2023

Early in Hittite history, enslaved people had been relatively rare, but they became more numerous later on as the number of war captives rose.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Possibly as a demonstration of military might or simply to seize an opportunity, the Hittite army descended into Mesopotamia and took the city of Babylon.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

The Hittite Empire expanded rapidly based on a flourishing bronze-age economy, expanding from Anatolia to conquer territory in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Canaan, ultimately clashing with the New Kingdom of Egypt.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

Between them and Palestine lay the southern outposts of the Hittite race.

From The Egypt of the Hebrews and Herodotos by A. H. (Archibald Henry) Sayce