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Minoan.

Of or relating to the civilization that developed in Crete from the neolithic period to the Bronze Age (about 3000-1050 B.C.E.).

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/mɪˈnəʊən/
  1. Of or relating to the civilization that developed in Crete from the neolithic period to the Bronze Age (about 3000-1050 B.C.E.).

    not-comparable
  2. Of or relating to the writing systems (Linear A and Linear B) used in Crete and later in mainland Greece.

    not-comparable
  3. Of or relating to the ancient language of the Minoans which died out by the beginning of the 1st millennium B.C.E.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Sir Arthur Evans, not knowing the Minoan term for “Minoan” at the time, coined this name in the early 20th century, from Ancient Greek Μίνως (Mínōs), the mythical king of Crete. The actual name is probably reflected in Egyptian kftjw (perhaps reconstructible as *Káftayu) and Biblical Hebrew כַּפְתּוֹר (Kaftor, “Caphthor”).

noun/mɪˈnəʊən/
  1. A person who belonged to the Minoan civilization.

Where this word comes from

Sir Arthur Evans, not knowing the Minoan term for “Minoan” at the time, coined this name in the early 20th century, from Ancient Greek Μίνως (Mínōs), the mythical king of Crete. The actual name is probably reflected in Egyptian kftjw (perhaps reconstructible as *Káftayu) and Biblical Hebrew כַּפְתּוֹר (Kaftor, “Caphthor”).

name/mɪˈnəʊən/
  1. The language written in Linear A.

Where this word comes from

Sir Arthur Evans, not knowing the Minoan term for “Minoan” at the time, coined this name in the early 20th century, from Ancient Greek Μίνως (Mínōs), the mythical king of Crete. The actual name is probably reflected in Egyptian kftjw (perhaps reconstructible as *Káftayu) and Biblical Hebrew כַּפְתּוֹר (Kaftor, “Caphthor”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.