I. ˈhiˌt]īt, ˈhid.ˌ], usu ]īd.+V\ noun
( -s )
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: Hebrew Ḥittī (from Hittite hḫatti ) + English -ite
1. : a member of the aboriginal population of the ancient city or country of Khatti in eastern Asia Minor
2.
a. : a member of a conquering people in Asia Minor and later in Syria whose origin is not certainly known, whose characteristic features, the sloping forehead and large aquiline nose, as preserved in Hittite and Egyptian reliefs, seem to have been derived from the autochthonous Hittites, and whose empire in the 2d millennium B.C. rivaled the Babylonian and Egyptian
b. : an Indo-European or Indo-Hittite language of this people known from a large body of texts in cuneiform writing largely found at Bogazköy in central Asia Minor — compare hieroglyphic hittite ; see indo-european languages table
II. adjective
Usage: usually capitalized
: of or relating to the Hittites or their language