Nabataean
Na·ba·tae·an/ˌnæ.bəˈtiː.ən/noun, adjective
Nabataean is a noun meaning “The ancient inhabitants of Nabataea, a region of Arabia inhabited by the Nabataeans that covers parts of northern Arabia and the Southern Levant…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled N-A-B-A-T-A-E-A-N and has 4 syllables (Na·ba·tae·an), and it appears about once in every 28 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of Nabataean is Nabataeans.
What does Nabataean mean?
noun
- 1
The ancient inhabitants of Nabataea, a region of Arabia inhabited by the Nabataeans that covers parts of northern Arabia and the Southern Levant, lying between Arabia and Syria, and stretching from the Euphrates river to the Red Sea. During the Hellenistic Period, the Nabataeans were involved in a nexus of trade routes reaching as far as Italy to the west and India to the east, which centered at t
- 2
Any of a group of people who once lived around modern Jordan.
adjective
- 1
Relating to the Nabataean people, their kings, art, architecture, religion, language, or script.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce Nabataean?
- /ˌnæ.bəˈtiː.ən/
Nabataean has 4 syllables, split Na·ba·tae·an in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Nabataean.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of Nabataean
- Nabataeans plural
- Nabatean
- Nabathaean
- Nabathean
- Nabathite
- more Nabataean comparative
- most Nabataean superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is Nabataean?
Nabataean appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 161,690th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Nabataean in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense any of a group of people who once lived around modern Jordan:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does Nabataean come from?
Borrowed from Latin Nabataeus (“Nabataean”), which was borrowed from Ancient Greek Ναβαταῖος (Nabataîos, “Nabataean”), which was borrowed from Nabataean Aramaic 𐢕𐢃𐢋𐢈 (nbṭw, “Nabataean”). Possibly cognate with Arabic نَبَطِيّ (nabaṭiyy, “Nabataean, Nabaṭ”), Arabic أَنْبَاط (ʔanbāṭ), and Hebrew נבטים (nabaṭim, “Nabataeans”), and Hebrew נבטית (nabaṭit, “Nabataean (adj.)”), all of which might be ultimately derived from the same Semitic root, perhaps Proto-Semitic *nabat-, possibly cognate with Akkadian nabāṭu ("to shine brightly").
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).