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
- 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
the New Stone Age
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Adjective
Neolithic (not comparable)
- 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
of or relating to the New Stone Age
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Noun
Neolithic (plural Neolithics)
- 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.