Sumerian

[ soo-meer-ee-uhn, -mer- ]

adjective
  1. of or relating to Sumer, its people, or their language.

noun
  1. a native or inhabitant of Sumer.

  2. a language of unknown affinities that was the language of the Sumerians and had, in the late 4th and 3rd millenniums b.c., a well-developed literature that is preserved in pictographic and cuneiform writing and represents the world's oldest extant written documents.

Origin of Sumerian

1
First recorded in 1870–75; Sumer + -ian

Other words from Sumerian

  • pre-Su·me·ri·an, adjective, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for Sumerian

Sumerian

/ (suːˈmɪərɪən, -ˈmɛər-) /


noun
  1. a member of a people who established a civilization in Sumer during the 4th millennium bc

  2. the extinct language of this people, of no known relationship to any other language

adjective
  1. of or relating to ancient Sumer, its inhabitants, or their language or civilization

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