Definition:
Details on Cuneiform and Other Early Writing Systems > Cuneiform Definition
Cuneiform or wedge-shaped writing is the name applied to the bulk of the inscriptions in ancient Mesopotamia. Scribes wrote on clay, which was readily available and could be made durable by drying or recycled by re-wetting. Scribes used a reed stylus as a tool to form the characters. It produced a wedge-shaped head with whatever kind of trailing tail might be required to inscribe the picture, sound, or word. Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Ugaritic, and Old Persian are some of the languages that used cuneiform. The elongated and stylized triangles normally point to the right just as the writing goes from the left to the right.
Pronunciation: kyoo-nee'-uh-form
Also Known As: Wedge shaped
Common Misspellings: cunieform, cuniform
Examples:
The Latin word for wedge is cuneus (ku-nay-us) from which we get the word cuneiform. NB: Cuneiform does not refer to a specific language, but rather to the way it was written.