/hit"uyt/ , n.
1. a member of an ancient people who established a powerful empire in Asia Minor and Syria, dominant from about 1900 to 1200 B.C.
2. an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of Indo-European, preserved in cuneiform inscriptions of the second millennium B.C. Cf. Hieroglyphic Hittite .
adj.
3. of, pertaining to, or belonging to the Hittites or their language.
[ 1600-10; hitt ( im ) Hittite (cf. Hittite Khatti ) + -ITE 1 ]