Afro-Asiatic

adjective

Af·​ro-Asi·​at·​ic ˌa-frō-ˌā-zhē-ˈa-tik How to pronounce Afro-Asiatic (audio)
-zē-,
 also  -shē-
: of, relating to, or being a family of languages widely distributed over southwestern Asia and Africa including the Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic subfamilies

Examples of Afro-Asiatic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The people who spoke ancestral Afro-Asiatic languages were certainly involved in the introduction of Middle Eastern crops into North Africa and may have been responsible for the domestication of crops native to Ethiopia. Jared Diamond, Discover Magazine, 17 Apr. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Afro-Asiatic was in 1922

Dictionary Entries Near Afro-Asiatic

Cite this Entry

“Afro-Asiatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Afro-Asiatic. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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