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# cuneiform

«cuneiform» in Mova's school dictionary: **one of the oldest kinds of writing in the world, made of…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (cuneiform, uncountable); adjective (cuneiform)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Cuneiform is one of the oldest kinds of writing in the world, made of small wedge-shaped marks pressed into wet clay with a reed, first used in ancient Mesopotamia (now Iraq) over 5,000 years ago. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/#m1)

2) (adjective) Cuneiform describes something shaped like a wedge, or written in this script. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons it comes with the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians and the first cities. It tells the reader about how writing began: for counting grain, animals and taxes, then for laws, letters and stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh. Clay tablets with cuneiform are kept in museums such as the British Museum.

### examples

- The Sumerians wrote in cuneiform on clay tablets. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/#x1)
- Cuneiform marks look like tiny triangles and lines. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/#x2)
- Scribes pressed a reed into wet clay to write cuneiform. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/#x3)
- Some cuneiform tablets are lists of sheep and barley. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/#x4)
- We tried writing our names in cuneiform with lollipop sticks and clay. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/#x5)
- The British Museum has thousands of cuneiform tablets. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/#x6)
- Experts can now read cuneiform. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/#x7)

### note

Uncountable: «written in cuneiform». Pronounced «KYOO-nee-i-form» (UK also «kyoo-NAY-i-form»). From Latin «cuneus», a wedge. It is a writing system, not a language: it was used for several languages, such as Sumerian and Akkadian. Not to be confused with Egyptian hieroglyphs, which are pictures.

### In the corpora

- [Scribes pressed a cut reed into wet clay, making wedge-shaped marks called cuneiform.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/6/)
- [Scribes pressed a cut reed into wet clay, making wedge-shaped marks; the word cuneiform means wedge-shaped.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/3-mesopotamia-first-cities-and-writing/13/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «cuneiform» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/cuneiform/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.