Afro-Asiatic

Af·ro-A·si·at·ic (fr-zh-tk, -sh-, -z-)

n.

A large family of languages spoken in northern Africa and southwest Asia, comprising the Semitic, Chadic, Cushitic, Berber, Omotic, and ancient Egyptian languages; formerly known as Hamito-Semitic.

---

Afro-Asi·atic adj.

---

Afro-Asiatic

n

(Linguistics / Languages) Also called Semito-Hamitic a family of languages of SW Asia and N Africa, consisting of the Semitic, ancient Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic subfamilies

adj

(Linguistics / Languages) denoting, belonging to, or relating to this family of languages

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Afro-Asiatic - a large family of related languages spoken both in Asia and Africa Afrasian, Afrasian language, Afroasiatic, Afroasiatic language, Hamito-Semitic natural language, tongue - a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language Chadic, Chadic language, Chad - a family of Afroasiatic tonal languages (mostly two tones) spoken in the regions west and south of Lake Chad in north central Africa Semitic - a major branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family Hamitic, Hamitic language - a group of languages in northern Africa related to Semitic Egyptian - the ancient and now extinct language of Egypt under the Pharaohs; written records date back to 3000 BC Berber - a cluster of related dialects that were once the major language of northern Africa west of Egypt; now spoken mostly in Morocco Cushitic - a group of languages spoken in Ethiopia and Somalia and northwestern Kenya and adjacent regions Omotic - a group of related languages spoken in a valley of southern Ethiopia; closely related to Cushitic languages