EGYPTIAN


Meaning of EGYPTIAN in English

I. -pshən adjective

Usage: usually capitalized

Etymology: Middle English Egipcian, from Old French egipcien, adjective & noun, from Egipte Egyptian (from Latin Aegyptus, from Greek Aigyptos ) + Old French -ien -ian

1. : of or relating to Egypt, the Egyptians, or the Egyptian language

Egyptian architecture

Egyptian conquest

2.

[from the reference in Exod 10:22 to a plague of darkness visited upon Egyptian]

: extreme , intense — usually used in the phrase Egyptian darkness

II. noun

( -s )

Usage: capitalized

Etymology: Middle English Egipcien, Egipcian, from Middle French egipcien

1. : a native or inhabitant of Egypt

2. : the Afro-Asiatic language of the ancient Egyptians from earliest times to about the 3d century A.D. — compare coptic , demotic egyptian , middle egyptian , new egyptian , old egyptian ; see afro-asiatic languages table

3. : the ancient Egyptian system of writing in any of its forms — see demotic , hieratic , hieroglyphic

4. obsolete : gypsy

5.

[so called from the fact that Cairo is a principal city]

: a native or inhabitant of southern Illinois — used as a nickname

6. often not capitalized : a heavy typeface having little contrast between thick and thin strokes and thick squared serifs

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.