Canaanite

[ key-nuh-nahyt ]

noun

1. a member of a Semitic people that inhabited parts of ancient Palestine and were conquered by the Israelites and largely absorbed by them.
2. a group of Semitic languages, including Hebrew and Phoenician, spoken chiefly in ancient Palestine and Syria.

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Canaan, the Canaanites, or the Canaanite group of languages.

Canaanite

/ ˈkeɪnəˌnaɪt /

noun

1. a member of an ancient Semitic people who occupied the land of Canaan before the Israelite conquest
2. the extinct language of this people, belonging to the Canaanitic branch of the Semitic subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family
3. (in later books of the Old Testament) a merchant or trader (Job 40:30; Proverbs 31:24)

Other Words From

• Ca·naan·it·ish [key, -n, uh, -nahy-tish], Ca·naan·it·ic [key-n, uh, -, nit, -ik], adjective
• pre-Canaan·ite noun adjective
• pre-Ca·naan·itic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Canaanite¹

1350–1400; Middle English ≪ Greek Kananī́tēs; Canaan, -ite ¹

Example Sentences

The IAA identified the jugs as Canaanite, a people who resided in the lands abutting the eastern Mediterranean.

From Seattle Times

Scattered along the coast of the Levant were the great Canaanite commercial centers, which dispensed strategic and utilitarian raw materials and manufactured goods to the Aegean region and beyond.

From New York Times

The Canaanite alphabet is the world’s first alphabet, and it led to our modern alphabets.

From NewsForKids.net

Because examples of Canaanite writing around the same time period are rare and fragmentary, and because many of the engravings on the comb were faint, the work was painstaking.

From New York Times

Canaanites spoke an ancient Semitic language — related to modern Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic — and resided in the lands abutting the eastern Mediterranean.

From Seattle Times