egyptian

egyptian — adjective

1. coming from Egypt or connected with its people, culture, or history.

1.adjectiveA2
Definition

coming from Egypt or connected with its people, culture, or history.

Example

Romi brought back an Egyptian cotton towel from her trip to Cairo.

collocation: Egyptian cotton

The Egyptian team won three gold medals at the swimming competition.

Common collocations
  • Egyptian cotton
  • ancient Egyptian
  • modern Egyptian
  • Egyptian government
  • Egyptian culture
  • traditional Egyptian

Usage Note

Always capitalised because it is formed from the country name Egypt.

Common Mistakes

I love egyptian music.
I love Egyptian music.
adjectives from country names must start with a capital letter in English.

egyptian — noun

Word family

  • Egypt
    nounA2
  • Egyptology
    nounC1
  • Egyptologist
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Egyptian is the standard noun for a person from Egypt, used in all contexts — informal conversation, news reports, and academic writing. Egyptian-born emphasises the place of birth rather than current nationality: 'Egyptian-born chef' can describe someone who now lives abroad. Native of Egypt is more formal and old-fashioned, often found in historical texts or official biographies. Egyptian citizen is the precise legal term, used in official documents or when discussing nationality law, but less common in everyday speech. In most situations, Egyptian alone is the natural choice.

Egyptian ↗Egyptian-bornnative of EgyptEgyptian citizen

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

  • distinctively Egyptian
  • typically Egyptian

Phrases

  • ancient Egyptian civilisation
  • modern Egyptian society

Prepositions

  • of Egypt
  • from Egypt

Etymology

Ancient EgyptianGreekLatinFrenchEnglish

Egyptian entered English in the 14th century, via French égyptien and Latin Aegyptius, from Greek Aigyptios. The Greek name Aigyptos itself came from the ancient Egyptian name for the city of Memphis, Hwt-Ka-Ptah ('temple of the soul of the god Ptah'), which travellers used to refer to the whole country.