noun
- a subfamily of Afroasiatic languages that includes Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Hebrew, and Phoenician.
adjective
- of or relating to the Semites or their languages, especially of or pertaining to the Jews.
noun
- a branch or subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Amharic, and such ancient languages as Akkadian and Phoenician
adjective
- denoting, relating to, or belonging to this group of languages
- denoting, belonging to, or characteristic of any of the peoples speaking a Semitic language, esp the Jews or the Arabs
- another word for Jewish
adj.1797, denoting the language group that includes Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Assyrian, etc.; 1826 as “of or pertaining to Semites,” from Medieval Latin Semiticus (source of Spanish semitico, French semitique, German semitisch), from Semita (see Semite). As a noun, as the name of a linguistic family, from 1813. In non-linguistic use, perhaps directly from German semitisch. In recent use often with the specific sense “Jewish,” but not historically so limited. A descriptive term for several peoples of the Middle East and their descendants, including Jews (see also Jews) and Arabs (see Arab-Israeli conflict). Today the term is mainly applied to Jews. (See anti-Semitism.)