Hamitic

American  

[ha-mit-ik, huh-] / hæˈmɪt ɪk, hə- /

noun

1. (especially formerly) the non-Semitic branches of the Afroasiatic language family.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Hamites or Hamitic.

Hamitic British  

/ hæˈmɪtɪk, hə- /

noun

1. a group of N African languages related to Semitic. They are now classified in four separate subfamilies of the Afro-Asiatic family: Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic

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adjective

1. denoting, relating to, or belonging to this group of languages

2. denoting, belonging to, or characteristic of the Hamites

Other Word Forms

• non-Hamitic
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of Hamitic

First recorded in 1880–85; Hamite + -ic

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Hamitic

The majority of the people are of the Eastern Hamitic family mixed with cultured Himyaritic Semites from South Arabia.

From Time Magazine Archive

A proud people, tall, lithe' and fine-featured, the Somalis are Hamitic in origin, descended in part from 7th century Arabs who crossed into Africa from Yemen.

From Time Magazine Archive

Libyan and Beja are the best-preserved types, and the latter especially may be called the Sanskrit of Hamitic.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 8 "Haller, Albrecht" to "Harmonium" by Various

When first heard of by Bowdich in 1819, the Paämways, as he calls the Fans, were an inland people presenting such marked Hamitic or Caucasic features that he allied them with the West Sudanese Fulahs.

From Man, Past and Present by Alfred Court Haddon

Danaus and his daughters—that is, the fugitive 'shepherds' from Egypt—sought refuge among their Hamitic kindred in the Peloponnesus about 1700 B.C.

From The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917 by Various

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