Neolithic

See also: neolithic

English

WOTD – 5 June 2008

Etymology

From neo- +‎ -lithic. Coined by English banker, Liberal politician, philanthropist, scientist and polymath John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˌni.əˈlɪθ.ɪk/, /ˌni.əʊˈlɪθ.ɪk/
  • (US) enPR: nēōlĭthīk, IPA(key): /ˌni.oʊˈlɪθ.ɪk/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪθɪk
  • Hyphenation: Neo‧lith‧ic

Proper noun

Neolithic

  1. The period of prehistory from circa 8500 to 4500 BCE.
    Synonym: New Stone Age
    Holonyms: Stone Age < prehistory
    Meronyms: Pre-Pottery Neolithic, Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, Pre-Pottery Neolithic B
    Comeronyms: Old Stone Age, Paleolithic

Translations

Adjective

Neolithic (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to the New Stone Age.
    • 2001, Duncan J. Melville, “Tokens: the origin of mathematics”, in Mesopotamian Mathematics[1], archived from the original on 6 February 2007:
      Tokens are first identified at around the same time as the local peoples changed from a life based on hunting and gathering to one based on agriculture. The tokens, as Schmandt-Besserat says, "were part and parcel of the Neolithic phenomenon; that is, the so-called agricultural revolution." (Before Writing 41).
    • 2013 September 14, Jane Shilling, “The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)[2], page R28:
      ... I was fascinated by a pair of stories about a Neolithic girl who wrote the first letter, and invented the first alphabet.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Neolithic (plural Neolithics)

  1. A person who lived during the New Stone Age.
    • 2011, Seán Lang, European History For Dummies, page 27:
      For the Neolithics, the stone was flint, and it's still impressive to see what they were able to achieve with it.

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