Indo-European

(in′dō yo̵or′ə pēən)

adjective

designating or of a family of languages that includes most of those spoken in Europe and many of those spoken in southwestern Asia and India

noun

  1. the Indo-European family of languages: its principal branches are Albanian, Anatolian, Armenian, Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, Greek, Indic, Iranian (often grouped with Indic as the Indo-Iranian subfamily), Italic, Slavic, and Tocharian
  2. the hypothetical language, reconstructed by modern linguists, from which these languages are thought to have descended: in this sense, Proto-Indo-European is now the preferred term
    1. a member of a people that speaks an Indo-European language
    2. a speaker of Proto-Indo-European

See Indo-European in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. a. A family of languages consisting of most of the languages of Europe as well as those of Iran, the Indian subcontinent, and other parts of Asia.
    b. Proto-Indo-European. Also called Indo-Germanic.
  2. A member of any of the peoples speaking an Indo-European language.

Related Forms:

  • Inˌdo-Euˌro·peˈan adjective

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