Midianite

American  

[mid-ee-uh-nahyt] / ˈmɪd i əˌnaɪt /

noun

1. a member of an ancient desert people of northwest Arabia near the Gulf of Aqaba, believed to have descended from Midian.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Midianites.

Etymology

Origin of Midianite

Midian + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Midianite

After all, Moses was born Jewish, adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in the Egyptian palace, then lived as a Midianite shepherd for many decades of his adult life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026

The other narrative speaks of the pursuit of the Midianite chiefs Zebah and Zalmunna3 across the northern end of Jordan, past Succoth and Penuel to the unidentified place Ḳarḳor.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 1 "Gichtel, Johann" to "Glory" by Various

A Puritan. Seven years long The Midianite drove Israel into dens And caves.

From Browning's England A Study in English Influences in Browning by Helen Archibald Clarke

The second text represented Joseph as falling into the hands of Midianite merchants, the revision added Ishmaelites.

From The History of Antiquity, Vol. I (of VI) by Max Duncker

Shaykh Mohammed declared that of old a chain stretched from the Pharaohnic island-castle to the Jebel el-Burayj or Kasr el-Bedawi on the Midianite shore: this chain is a lieu commun of Eastern legends.

From The Land of Midian — Volume 1 by Sir Richard Francis Burton