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.

---

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

---

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

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

However, little more than fifty years later, the once-powerful Hittite Empire collapsed, never to reappear.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 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

The Mycenaean kingdoms in Greece and the Hittite kingdom in Anatolia suffered greatly and collapsed.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

It's not Greek, or Egyptian, or Persian, or anything else; so if it isn't ancient Hittite, I don't know what it is.

From Mortal Coils by Huxley, Aldous