Hittite

[hit-ahyt]

noun

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

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

adjective

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

Origin of Hittite

1600–10; < Hebrew ḥitt(īm) Hittite (compare Hittite Khatti) + -ite¹

Related formspost-Hit·tite, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hittite

Contemporary Examples of hittite

Maybe you can tell the Ecuadorians that Israel deserves Hebron because Abraham bought land there from Ephron the Hittite.
Happy Now, Bibi?
Peter Beinart
December 8, 2010

Historical Examples of hittite

He found a ready market for them among the Hittite and Araman kings.
The Expositor's Bible: The First Book of Kings
F. W. Farrar
They showed that the Hittite had won and kept the pass by force of arms.
The Hittites
A. H. Sayce
Not far from Karabel another monument of Hittite art has been discovered.
The Hittites
A. H. Sayce
When, however, we speak of a Hittite empire we must understand clearly what that means.
The Hittites
A. H. Sayce
Like the Egyptian Pharaoh, the Hittite monarch was accompanied to battle by his scribes.
The Hittites
A. H. Sayce

British Dictionary definitions for hittite

Hittite

noun

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

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

of or relating to this people, their civilization, 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

Word Origin and History for hittite

Hittite

c.1600, "of or pertaining to an Indo-European people whose empire (c.1900-700 B.C.E.) covered much of modern Turkey and Syria," from Hebrew Hitti "Hittite" (plural Hittim), from Hittite Hatti. The biblical use (cf. Gen. xv:20, etc.) refers to Canaanite or Syrian tribes that probably were genuine scions of the Hittites. They were called khita or kheta in Egyptian.