EGYPTIAN

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Egyptian mean? 

• EGYPTIAN (noun)
  The noun EGYPTIAN has 2 senses:

1. a native or inhabitant of Egypt

2. the ancient and now extinct language of Egypt under the Pharaohs; written records date back to 3000 BC

  Familiarity information: EGYPTIAN used as a noun is rare.

• EGYPTIAN (adjective)
  The adjective EGYPTIAN has 1 sense:

1. of or relating to or characteristic of Egypt or its people or their language

  Familiarity information: EGYPTIAN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EGYPTIAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A native or inhabitant of Egypt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Egyptian" is a kind of...):

African (a native or inhabitant of Africa)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Egyptian"):

Copt (an Egyptian descended from the ancient Egyptians)

Theban (an Egyptian inhabitant of ancient Thebes)

Cairene (a native or inhabitant of Cairo)

Nubian (a native or inhabitant of Nubia)

Instance hyponyms:

Cleopatra (beautiful and charismatic queen of Egypt; mistress of Julius Caesar and later of Mark Antony; killed herself to avoid capture by Octavian (69-30 BC))

Holonyms ("Egyptian" is a member of...):

Arab Republic of Egypt; Egypt; United Arab Republic (a republic in northeastern Africa known as the United Arab Republic until 1971; site of an ancient civilization that flourished from 2600 to 30 BC)

Derivation:

Egyptian (of or relating to or characteristic of Egypt or its people or their language)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The ancient and now extinct language of Egypt under the Pharaohs; written records date back to 3000 BC

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("Egyptian" is a kind of...):

Afrasian; Afrasian language; Afro-Asiatic; Afroasiatic; Afroasiatic language; Hamito-Semitic (a large family of related languages spoken both in Asia and Africa)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Egyptian"):

Coptic (the liturgical language of the Coptic Church used in Egypt and Ethiopia; written in the Greek alphabet)

Derivation:

Egyptian (of or relating to or characteristic of Egypt or its people or their language)

• EGYPTIAN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to or characteristic of Egypt or its people or their language

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Pertainym:

Egypt (a republic in northeastern Africa known as the United Arab Republic until 1971; site of an ancient civilization that flourished from 2600 to 30 BC)

Derivation:

Egypt (an ancient empire to the west of Israel; centered on the Nile River and ruled by a Pharaoh; figured in many events described in the Old Testament)

Egypt (a republic in northeastern Africa known as the United Arab Republic until 1971; site of an ancient civilization that flourished from 2600 to 30 BC)

Egyptian (the ancient and now extinct language of Egypt under the Pharaohs; written records date back to 3000 BC)

Egyptian (a native or inhabitant of Egypt)

 Context examples 

Some scholars have suggested Egyptians raised or farmed the birds to make them available in the necessary numbers.

(Ancient Egyptians collected wild ibis birds for sacrifice, says study, Wikinews)

He tipped the waiter a quarter, and spent fifty cents for a package of Egyptian cigarettes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Egyptian officials hope the discovery will help the country's efforts to revive tourism.

(Discovery of Two Tombs Dating Back 3,500 Years Announced in Egypt, VOA)

For example, in the Negev Desert along the Egypt-Israel border, the Israeli side's dunes are stabilized by vegetation; on the Egyptian side, however, the dunes are moving because overgrazing has left them barren.

(Sleeping sands of the Kalahari awaken after more than 10,000 years, NSF)

The tomb was discovered by Egyptian archeologists and could boost Egypt's slowly recovering tourism industry.

(Egypt Announces Discovery of 3,500-Year-Old Luxor Tomb, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a rare collection of mummified scarab beetles, as well as an apparently pristine Fifth Dynasty tomb they plan to open in the coming weeks in the Saqqara necropolis, 30 km (19mi) south of Cairo.

(Egyptian Archaeologists Uncover One-Of-A-Kind Tomb South of Cairo, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

When I had groped my way, blindly, through these difficulties, and had mastered the alphabet, which was an Egyptian Temple in itself, there then appeared a procession of new horrors, called arbitrary characters; the most despotic characters I have ever known; who insisted, for instance, that a thing like the beginning of a cobweb, meant expectation, and that a pen-and-ink sky-rocket, stood for disadvantageous.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"I remember reading in Egyptian history something to the effect that understanding could not be had of Egyptian art without first studying the land question."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

An international team of scientists report ancient Egyptians captured sacred ibises (Threskiornis aethiopicus) from the wild for use in ritual sacrifice rather than domesticating the birds.

(Ancient Egyptians collected wild ibis birds for sacrifice, says study, Wikinews)

The tombs are the latest discovery in Luxor, which is known for its temples and tombs from different dynasties of ancient Egyptian history.

(Discovery of Two Tombs Dating Back 3,500 Years Announced in Egypt, VOA)