Aramaic

noun

Ar·​a·​ma·​ic ˌa-rə-ˈmā-ik 

ˌer-ə-

: a Semitic language known since the ninth century b.c. as the speech of the Aramaeans and later used extensively in southwest Asia as a commercial and governmental language and adopted as their customary speech by various non-Aramaean peoples including the Jews after the Babylonian exile

Examples of Aramaic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The cache, which is believed to be the largest of its kind ever found in Israel, contains coins written in both Aramaic and Greek. —Andrea Margolis, Fox News, 6 Jan. 2025

But religious leaders there feared Aramaic was fading. —John Otis, New York Times, 23 Dec. 2024

Unlike most Nabatean temples, which are inscribed with text written in Aramaic script, this one has an inscription written in Latin. —Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 28 Oct. 2024

In Palmyra, local authorities fostered a distinct identity by issuing bilingual coinage and insisting that civic inscriptions on buildings be written in Greek as well as Palmyrene Aramaic. —Peter Frankopan, Foreign Affairs, 7 June 2019

Fitzgerald spent a year and a half researching the script and worked closely with William Fulco, who was responsible for the translations to Latin and the reconstructed Aramaic used in the film. —Abid Rahman, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019

Conflicting reports claim that al-Nusra fighters have desecrated churches and statues in what may be one of the oldest Christian cities in the world, a place where residents still speak Aramaic, the language presumably spoken by Jesus. —Reza Aslan, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2013

Still, relatively few Hollywood workers feel at home in Chabad’s traditional services, where prayers are sung exclusively in Hebrew and Aramaic, and must be said out of sight by women, who worship hidden behind a screen. —Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2023

Barry is one of the bandleaders of this Klex/Mex band, which plays songs in Spanish, Yiddish and, on occasion, in Ladino, a rare and endangered language that blends Hebrew, Aramaic and Old Spanish. —The Foretold Team, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1813, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing Aramaic

• Aramaic alphabet

Rhymes for Aramaic

• algebraic
• formulaic
• ptolemaic
• syngeneic
• allogeneic
• photovoltaic
• altaic
• archaic
• deltaic
• hebraic
• mosaic
• oleic

Kids Definition

Aramaic

noun

Ar·​a·​ma·​ic ˌar-ə-ˈmā-ik 

: a Semitic language of the Aramaeans