cuneiform — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Having the form of a wedge; wedge-shaped, especially with a tapered end.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   About midway across the larger log a cuneiform notch or cut about six inches deep was made.

   The cuneiform tendon is always sharply defined when the hock is flexed by the action of the muscle.

   More examples (1)

   The cuneiform leaf is not the characteristic heart-shaped early form (O. and P., p. 241).

2. Written in the cuneiform writing system.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Examples

   There, too, it was originally the vulgar script in contrast with the official cuneiform script employed for all official documents, compacts, etc.

   More examples (1)

   The text is inscribed on a clay tablet of a very unusual format. The only other known mathematical cuneiform text on a clay tablet of a similar format is also the only previously known Kassite (and therefore post-Old-Babylonian) mathematical cuneiform text.

Noun

1. An ancient Mesopotamian writing system, adapted within several language families, originating as pictograms in Sumer around the 30th century BCE, evolving into more abstract and characteristic wedge shapes formed by a blunt reed stylus on clayen tablets.

   Synonyms

   wedge-writing

2. A wedge-shaped bone, especially a cuneiform bone.

Adjective

1. shaped like a wedge

   Synonyms

   wedge-shapedcuneal

2. of or relating to the tarsal bones (or other wedge-shaped bones)

Noun

1. an ancient wedge-shaped script used in Mesopotamia and Persia

   Broader terms

   script