adj, name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Describing the script or scripts known as Proto-Sinaitic (plural Proto-Sinaitic); describing only the form of this script found in the Sinai Peninsula.
2. 2
   Describing the script or scripts known as Proto-Sinaitic (plural Proto-Sinaitic); describing all extant forms and variants of this early script found throughout Egypt (Sinai and Nilotic Egypt) and the Levant (Canaan)

Proper Noun

1. 1
   An ancient consonantal script (abjad), found in a small corpus of about 40 inscriptions and fragments dating to the Middle Bronze Age, the vast majority from Serabit el-Khadim in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. It was written by speakers of a Semitic language or languages, possibly Canaanite, who repurposed Egyptian hieroglyphs to write Semitic consonants. It is considered the earliest trace of alphabetic writing and the common ancestor of both the Ancient South Arabian script and the Phoenician alphabet.
2. 2
   Referring to several early consonantal scripts (abjads) used in Egypt and the Levant during the Bronze Age adapted from Egyptian hieroglyphs using acrophonic spelling to write a Semitic language or languages, possibly Canaanite. Considered collectively as early traces of alphabetic writing and as evidence for a common ancestor of the Phoenician and Ancient South Arabian scripts.

Synonyms

All synonyms

early alphabeticearly alphabetic

Etymology

From proto- + Sinaitic.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.