Indo-European Definition

ĭndō-yo͝orə-pēən
noun
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.
Webster's New World
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.
American Heritage
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.
Webster's New World
A hypothetical speaker of Proto-Indo-European.
Webster's New World
A member of a people that speaks an Indo-European language.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
pronoun

A major language family which includes many of the native languages of Europe, Western Asia and India, with notable Indic, Iranian and European sub-branches.

Wiktionary

Proto-Indo-European: the hypothetical parent language of the Indo-European language family.

Wiktionary
adjective
Designating or of a family of languages that includes most of those spoken in Europe and many of those spoken in SW Asia and India.
Webster's New World

Of or relating to the hypothetical parent language of the Indo-European language family. Also called Proto-Indo-European and abbreviated PIE.

Wiktionary
Of or relating to the hypothetical group of peoples that spread Indo-European languages.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Indo-European

Noun

Singular:
Indo-European
Plural:
indo-europeans

Origin of Indo-European

  • Coined in 1813 by Sir Thomas Young, from Indo- +‎ European, relating to the geographical extremes in India and Europe (which was valid before the discovery of Tocharian languages in the early 20th century).

    From Wiktionary

Indo-European Sentence Examples

  • It has no connexion with Indo-European, as has erroneously been supposed.

  • One has hitherto supposed that he was related to the Mediterraneans, the race to which the Bronze Age Greeks and Italians belonged; but this supposed connexion may well break down in the matter of skull form, as the Hittite skull, like that of the modern Anatolian, probably inclined to be brachycephalic. whereas that of the Mediterranean inclined in the other direction, And now the Bohemian Assyriologist Prof. Hrozny has brought forward evidence s that the cuneiform script adopted by the Hittites from the Mesopotamians expressed an Indo-European tongue, nearly akin to Latin!

  • The groundwork, so far as it can be ascertained, and the grammar are Indo-European, but a large number of words have been borrowed from the Latin or Italian and Greek, and it is not always easy to decide whether the mutilated and curtailed forms now in use represent adopted words or belong to the original vocabulary.

  • There are two conjugations; the passive formation, now wanting inmost Indo-European languages, has been retained, as in Greek; thus kerko-iy, " I seek," forms kerko-n -em, " I am sought."

  • The name Varuna may be Indo-European, identifiable, some believe, with the Greek ofpavos (Uranus), and ultimately referable to a root var, " to cover," Varuna thus meaning "the Encompasser."

More Sentences

Related Articles

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to Indo-European using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

IININD

Words Ending With

NANEAN

Unscrambles

Indo-European

Words Starting With I and Ending With N

Starts With I & Ends With NStarts With IN & Ends With NStarts With I & Ends With AN

Word Length

13 Letter Words13 Letter Words Starting With I13 Letter Words Ending With N