Punic

//ˈpjuːnɪk// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A native or inhabitant of ancient Carthage; a Carthaginian.
  2. 2
    the Phoenician dialect of ancient Carthage wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or relating to ancient Carthage, its inhabitants, or their language.
  2. 2
    Perfidious, treacherous, faithless. ethnic, figuratively, slur
Adjective
  1. 1
    tending to betray; especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans wordnet
  2. 2
    of or relating to or characteristic of ancient Carthage or its people or their language wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The language of Carthage.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bookycarthaginiancarthaginiancarthaginiandastardlydisleal

Example

More examples

""The realm thou see'st is Punic; Tyrians are / the folk, the town Agenor's. Round them lie / the Libyan plains, a people rough in war.""

Etymology

From Latin pūnicus, variant of poenicus, from Poenus + -icus, from Ancient Greek Φοῖνιξ (Phoînix), from Mycenaean Greek 𐀡𐀛𐀑𐀍 (po-ni-ki-jo) under influence from φοινός (phoinós, “crimson red”) owing to its relation to Tyrian purple, apparently from or cognate with Egyptian fnḫw (“Asiatics, Semites”), f:n:x-w-V12:Z2. Equivalent to a modified Phoenician + -ic.

Related phrases

Latino-PunicNeo-PunicPunic WarPunic applePunic faithPunic treeSiculo-PunicSiculo-Punic

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