Afro-Asiatic

Definitions of Afro-Asiatic

1. noun

   a large family of related languages spoken both in Asia and Africa
   synonyms: Afrasian, Afrasian language, Afroasiatic, Afroasiatic language, Hamito-Semitic

   types:

   Chad, Chadic, Chadic language

   a family of Afroasiatic tonal languages (mostly two tones) spoken in the regions west and south of Lake Chad in north central Africa

   Semitic

   a major branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family

   Hamitic, Hamitic language

   a group of languages in northern Africa related to Semitic

   Egyptian

   the ancient and now extinct language of Egypt under the Pharaohs; written records date back to 3000 BC

   Berber

   a cluster of related dialects that were once the major language of northern Africa west of Egypt; now spoken mostly in Morocco

   Cushitic

   a group of languages spoken in Ethiopia and Somalia and northwestern Kenya and adjacent regions

   Omotic

   a group of related languages spoken in a valley of southern Ethiopia; closely related to Cushitic languages

   West Chadic

   a group of Chadic languages spoken in northern Nigeria; Hausa in the most important member

   Biu-Mandara

   a group of Chadic languages spoken in the border area between Cameroon and Nigeria south of Lake Chad

   East Chadic

   a group of Chadic languages spoken in Chad

   Masa

   an independent group of closely related Chadic languages spoken in the area between the Biu-Mandara and East Chadic languages

   Akkadian

   an ancient branch of the Semitic languages

   Amharic, Ethiopian language

   the dominant and official language of Ethiopia; a Semitic language much influenced by the Cushitic language with which Amhara have been in close contact

   Arabic, Arabic language

   the Semitic language of the Arabs; spoken in a variety of dialects

   Aramaic

   a Semitic language originally of the ancient Arameans but still spoken by other people in southwestern Asia

   Maltese, Maltese language, Malti

   the national language of the Republic of Malta; a Semitic language derived from Arabic but with many loan words from Italian, Spanish, and Norman-French

   Canaanitic, Canaanitic language

   a group of Semitic languages

   Coptic

   the liturgical language of the Coptic Church used in Egypt and Ethiopia; written in the Greek alphabet

   Tuareg

   the dialect of Berber spoken by the Tuareg

   Somali

   the Cushitic language spoken by the Somali

   type of:

   natural language, tongue

   a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language