cuneiform
/kjuˈni.ə.fɔɹm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.53 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Having the form of a wedge; wedge-shaped, especially with a tapered end.
adj
Written in the cuneiform writing system.
noun
An ancient Mesopotamian writing system, adapted within several language families, originating as pictograms in Sumer around the 30th century BCE, evolving into more abstract and characteristic wedge shapes formed by a blunt reed stylus on clayen tablets.
noun
Example Sentences
- "About midway across the larger log a cuneiform notch or cut about six inches deep was made."
- "The cuneiform tendon is always sharply defined when the hock is flexed by the action of the muscle."
- "The cuneiform leaf is not the characteristic heart-shaped early form (O. and P., p. 241)."
- "There, too, it was originally the vulgar script in contrast with the official cuneiform script employed for all official documents, compacts, etc."
- "The text is inscribed on a clay tablet of a very unusual format. The only other known mathematical cuneiform text on a clay tablet of a similar format is also the only previously known Kassite (and therefore post-Old-Babylonian) mathematical cuneiform text."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kjuˈni.ə.fɔɹm/
- British English: /ˈkjuː.nɪ.fɔːm/