Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to Bactria or its people, language, or culture.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of Bactria.
  • noun The Middle Iranian language of the Bactrians, known from scattered inscriptions and legal documents extending into the Islamic period.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to Bactria or Bactriana, an ancient country of central Asia, with its capital, Bactra, on the site of the modern Balkh.
  • noun A native or an inhabitant of Bactria.
  • noun The language of Bactria.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to Bactria in Asia.
  • adjective the two-humped camel.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun countable A person of Bactria.
  • proper noun uncountable An extinct Eastern Iranian language which was spoken in the Central Asian region of Bactria, also called Tocharistan, in northern Afghanistan.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The team rushed to deliver the artifacts, which became known as the Bactrian Gold, to the National Museum in Kabul.

    The Keeper of the Keys and the Mystery of the Bactrian Gold 2009

  • She called her Bactrian eunuch and her ladies, threw on a veil, brushed past the stunned Nubian giant who guarded the harem, and only answered his shrill cries with, "I must see the King."

    Funeral Games Renault, Mary, 1905-1983 1981

  • Kharo [s.] [t.] h [= i] numerals were formerly known as Bactrian, Indo-Bactrian, and Aryan.

    The Hindu-Arabic Numerals David Eugene Smith 1902

  • The so-called Bactrian Hoard, one of the greatest archeological finds of the 20th Century, is the heart of the trove, discovered accidentally in 1978 by Russian archeologist Viktor Sarianidi, Hiebert's mentor.

    The Key-Holders: Guarding Priceless Cultural Treasures with Their Lives Jan 2008

  • The so-called Bactrian Hoard, one of the greatest archeological finds of the 20th Century, is the heart of the trove, discovered accidentally in 1978 by Russian archeologist Viktor Sarianidi, Hiebert's mentor.

    Archive 2008-05-01 Jan 2008

  • Camels with two humps are from Asia, and are called Bactrian camels.

    unknown title 2009

  • With his Sogdian cavalry and hundreds of Scythian allies, he attacked one of the Bactrian forts and caught the Macedonian defenders completely off guard.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • His Bactrian bride Roxane was pregnant, he hoped with a boy, though the child would not be of age for many years to come even if the Macedonians would accept a half-barbarian ruler on the throne.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • You can deal with Bessus now or later, but unless you want to see your families slaughtered in their beds by hordes of Bactrian cavalry, you had better finish it now.

    Alexander the Great Philip Freeman 2011

  • There are two species of camel: the Arabian and the Bactrian.

    The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference 2009

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