Minoan

/mɪˈnəʊən/

Minoan adjective: of or relating to the civilization that developed in Crete from the neolithic period to the Bronze Age (about 3000-1050 B.C.E.).

Adjective

Minoan (not comparable)

Of or relating to the civilization that developed in Crete from the neolithic period to the Bronze Age (about 3000-1050 B.C.E.).
Of or relating to the writing systems (Linear A and Linear B) used in Crete and later in mainland Greece.
Of or relating to the ancient language of the Minoans which died out by the beginning of the 1st millennium B.C.E.

Noun

Minoan (plural Minoans)

A person who belonged to the Minoan civilization.

Proper noun

Minoan

The language written in Linear A.

Minoan meaning in Marathi, Odia, Arabic and Thai

Minoan in Marathi

Of or relating to the civilization that developed in Crete from the neolithic period to the Bronze Age: मिनोअन minoan
Minoan: मिनोअन minoan

Minoan in Odia

Of or relating to the civilization that developed in Crete from the neolithic period to the Bronze Age: ମିନୋଆନ minoāna

Minoan in Arabic

Of or relating to the civilization that developed in Crete from the neolithic period to the Bronze Age: مِينُوسِيّ mīnūsiyy, مِينُوسِيَّة mīnūsiyya

Minoan in Thai

Of or relating to the civilization that developed in Crete from the neolithic period to the Bronze Age: ไมนอส

Forms of Minoan

plural	Minoans

Origin of Minoan

Sir Arthur Evans, not knowing the Minoan term for “Minoan” at the time, coined this name in the early 20th century, from Ancient Greek Μίνως (Mínōs), the mythical king of Crete. The actual name is probably reflected in Egyptian kftjw (perhaps reconstructible as *Káftayu) and Biblical Hebrew כַּפְתּוֹר (Kaftor, “Caphthor”).

Words that rhyme with Minoan

Questions about Minoan

What does Minoan mean?: Minoan means of or relating to the civilization that developed in Crete from the neolithic period to the Bronze Age (about 3000-1050 B.C.E.).
What is Minoan in Marathi?: Minoan in Marathi is मिनोअन (minoan). See Minoan meaning in Marathi.
What part of speech is Minoan?: Minoan can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Minoan?: Minoan is pronounced /mɪˈnəʊən/.

Words near Minoan in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: Minoan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sumxr-Minoan.wav.

Cite this entry: “Minoan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/minoan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.