Definition of Semitic

1. Noun. A major branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family.


2. Adjective. Of or relating to the group of Semitic languages. "Semitic tongues have a complicated morphology"

3. Adjective. Of or relating to or characteristic of Semites. "Semite peoples"
Exact synonyms: Semite
Partainyms: Semite, Semite
Derivative terms: Semite, Semite

Definition of Semitic

1. a. Of or pertaining to Shem or his descendants; belonging to that division of the Caucasian race which includes the Arabs, Jews, and related races.

Definition of Semitic

1. Adjective. Of or pertaining to a subdivision of Afro-Asiatic Semitic languages: Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Syriac, Akkadian, Hebrew, Maltese, Tigrigna, Phoenician etc. ¹

2. Adjective. Of or pertaining to the Semites: Semitic people. ¹

3. Adjective. (biblical) Of or pertaining to the descendants of Shem, the eldest of three sons of Noah. ¹

4. Adjective. In a narrower sense, of or pertaining to the Israeli, Jewish, or Hebrew people. ¹

5. Proper noun. The Semitic languages in general. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Semitic

1. Of or pertaining to Shem or his descendants; belonging to that division of the Caucasian race which includes the Arabs, Jews, and related races. Alternative forms: Shemitic] Semitic language, a name used to designate a group of Asiatic and African languages, some living and some dead, namely: Hebrew and Phoenician, Aramaic, Assyrian, Arabic, Ethiopic (Geez and Ampharic). Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Semitic

semita
semitalented
semitangent
semitangents
semitar
semitars
semitasteful
semitaur
semitaurs
semitendinosus
semitendinous
semiterete
semiterrestrial
semitertian
semitheatrical
semitic
semitist
semitists
semitonal
semitonally
semitone
semitones
semitonic
semitonically
semitragic
semitrailer
semitrailers
semitrained
semitrance
semitransept

Literary usage of Semitic

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing by Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck (1911)
"The credit, if such it be, of having originated the name " Semitic " (from Noah's son Sem, or Shem) for the Hebrew group, is to be given either to ..."

2. The Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General by Thomas Spencer Baynes (1888)
"The connexion of the Semitic languages with, one another is somewhat close, ... The more ancient Semitic tongues differ from one another scarcely more than ..."

3. The Outline of History: Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind by Herbert George Wells (1921)
"The Hamitic group is certainly a much wider and more various language group than the Semitic or the Aryan, and the Semitic tongues are more of a family, ..."

4. Encyclopaedia Britannica: A Standard Work of Reference in Art, Literature (1907)
"Semitic LANGUAGES. THE name " Semitic languages " is used to designate a group of Asiatic and African languages, some living and some dead, namely, ..."

5. The Monist by Hegeler Institute (1903)
"Semitic ORIGINS.1 Semitic Origins!—a title which at once challenges not only our curiosity but also our attention. All we know so far about the Semites was ..."

6. Archaeology and the Bible by George Aaron Barton (1916)
"FIRST Semitic POTTERY TO 1800 8. c. POTTERY OP SECOND Semitic PERIOD. ... There is first, then, the pottery of the pre-Semitic cave-dwellers. ..."

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