Egyptian

How to spell egyptian

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce egyptian

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does egyptian mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Egypt, its people, or its ancient and modern culture.
2. nounA person from Egypt or of Egyptian descent.

Egyptian in a sentence

• adjective

  The museum unveiled a rare egyptian artefact from a royal tomb.

• noun

  The tour guide was a friendly egyptian who spoke four languages.

• adjective

  She studied egyptian history at university for three years.

• noun

  Every egyptian in the delegation welcomed the visiting trade officials.

Where does egyptian come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The word traces back to the Greek Aigyptos, the Greek name for both the Nile country and the river itself, which the Greeks may in turn have borrowed from an Egyptian phrase meaning roughly 'the temple of the soul of Ptah', an ancient name for the city of Memphis. The Greek name passed into Latin as Aegyptus, and from there into Old French and English. By the time it settled into English in the medieval period, the adjective and noun form 'Egyptian' was being used for anything connected with the land of the Nile. A surprising relative is the word 'gypsy', which arose because Europeans once wrongly believed these travelling people had come from Egypt. The tricky spelling, with 'gy' sounding like 'jip' and the 'ti' pronounced like 'sh', survives directly from that Greek and Latin lineage, which is exactly why writers stumble over it.

How the word is built

• Egypt (the country name)
• -ian (adjective/noun suffix meaning 'belonging to or originating from')