Cushite

C3U1S1H4I1T1E1

adjective

Pertaining to the ancient people of the Horn of Africa, historically considered the descendants of biblical Cush.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

adjectiveCushite (not comparable)

alternative Kushite

  1. not comparablePertaining to the ancient people of the Horn of Africa, historically considered the descendants of biblical Cush.
proper noun

alternative Kushite

  1. human sciencesThe Cushitic subfamily of languages.

    In the second language category are Cushite speakers. Cushite is a subdivison of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Cushite speakers live in areas stretching from the coast of the Red Sea across the Horn of Africa.

    1995, David M. Helgren, Robert J. Sager, World Geography Today, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, →ISBN, page 454
    2 more examples

    Similarly, in the Hamitic area, the Berber languages of the north-west are clearly distinguished from Ful, and these, again, from the Nilotic languages, which, in their turn, are quite distinct from the “Cushite” languages in the east (i.e. Somali, Galla, Saho, Bedauye, etc.).

    1915, Carl Meinhof, translated by A. Werner, An Introduction to the Study of African Languages, London: J. M. Dent & Sons, page 150

    The numerous Cushite languages of East Africa make up another branch of Afroasiatic and can be separated for convenience into five subgroups—northern, central, eastern, western, and southern. […] The northern branch of Cushite consists of a number of closely related dialects of which Bedauye, the best known, may be taken as representative.

    1990, [Joseph H. Greenberg], “Internal a- Plurals in Afroasiatic (Hamito-Semitic) (1955)”, in Keith Denning, Suzanne Kemmer, editors, On Language: Selected Writings of Joseph H. Greenberg, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 401
nounCushite (plural Cushites)

plural Cushites · alternative Kushite

  1. datedanthropologyA member of one of various peoples native to the Horn of Africa, generally restricted to those that speak Cushitic languages.

Origin

  1. Egyptiankꜣšbor.?
  2. Biblical Hebrewכּוּשׁ (kûš)
  3. EnglishCush
  4. EnglishCushite

From Cush + -ite, coined in the 1820s. In the early 19th century, the term referred to the tan to dark-skinned people of the Horn of Africa (synonymous with Herodotus' Ethiopians) in general. The technical linguistic sense is due to Friedrich Müller (1876).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic كُوشِيّ, كُوشِيَّة
  • كُوشِيّ (kūšiyy)pertaining to the ancient people of the Horn of Africa
  • كُوشِيَّة (kūšiyya)pertaining to the ancient people of the Horn of Africa
German kuschitisch, Kuschite
  • kuschitischpertaining to the ancient people of the Horn of Africa
  • Kuschitemember of one of the peoples of the Horn of Africa
  • Kuschitinmember of one of the peoples of the Horn of Africa
  • Kuschitermember of one of the peoples of the Horn of Africa
  • Kuschiterinmember of one of the peoples of the Horn of Africa
Hebrew כּוּשִׁי, כּוּשִׁי
  • כּוּשִׁי (kushí)pertaining to the ancient people of the Horn of Africa
  • כּוּשִׁי (kushí)member of one of the peoples of the Horn of Africa

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

Cushite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cushite

MLA

“Cushite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cushite. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Cushite,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cushite.

Source: Cushite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.