Cuneiform

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /kjuːˈniːɪfɔːm/
• US IPA: /kjuːˈni.É™.fɔɹm/

Alternative forms

• cuniform

Origin

From French cunéiforme or New Latin cuneifōrmis, from Classical Latin cuneus ("wedge") + fōrma.

Full definition of cuneiform

Adjective

1. Having the form of a wedge; wedge-shaped, especially with a tapered end.
• 1936, W. Frank Calderon, Animal Painting and Anatomy, page 297The cuneiform tendon is always sharply defined when the hock is flexed by the action of the muscle.
• 1952, Aileen Fox, Roman Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum): Excavations in the War-damaged Areas, 1945-1947, page 69The cuneiform leaf is not the characteristic heart-shaped early form (O. and P., p. 241).
2. Written in the cuneiform writing system.
• 1911, Alvin Sylvester Zerbe, The Antiquity of Hebrew Writing and Literature, page 182There, too, it was originally the vulgar script in contrast with the official cuneiform script employed for all official documents, compacts, etc.
• 2000, Jöran Friberg, A Remarkable Collection of Babylonian Mathematical Texts, page ixThe 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.

Synonyms

• wedgelike
• wedgy

Noun

1. An ancient Mesopotamian writing system, adapted within several language families, originating as pictograms in Sumer around the 30th century BC, evolving into more abstract and characteristic wedge shapes formed by a blunt reed stylus on clay tablets.
2. (anatomy) A wedge-shaped bone, especially a cuneiform bone.

Derived terms

• cuneiformist