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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

"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

adjective

  1. 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

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of Hittite

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

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

To the east of the Hittite Empire, Mesopotamia was not ruled by a single state or empire during most of the Bronze Age.

From Textbooks Jan. 1, 2020

The Hittite Empire never recovered in Anatolia, while in Mesopotamia the most noteworthy survivor of the collapse – the Assyrian state – went on to become the greatest power the region had yet seen.

From Textbooks Jan. 1, 2020

A comparison of these inscriptions, which are types of hundreds of others known to Assyriologists, with the transaction between Abraham and the Hittite Ephron, shows noteworthy differences.

From The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia by Theophilus Goldridge Pinches

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