Mycenaean

adjective

My·​ce·​nae·​an ˌmī-sə-ˈnē-ən 

variants or less commonly Mycenian

mī-ˈsē-nē-ən 

1

: of, relating to, or characteristic of Mycenae, its people, or the period (1400 to 1100 b.c.) of Mycenae's political ascendancy

2

: characteristic of the Bronze Age Mycenaean culture of the eastern Mediterranean area

Mycenaean noun

Examples of Mycenaean in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This discovery rewrote our understanding of the ways Mycenaean and Minoan cultures blended to give rise to Western civilization. — Olivia Morelli, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Dec. 2025

Berio wonders whether Arcturus functioned as a celestial beacon across multiple cultural spheres—Minoan, Mycenaean, and Egyptian. — Bruce Dorminey, Forbes.com, 7 June 2025

The exhibition will showcase over 230 works of art and artifacts from Messenia, an epicenter of the Mycenaean civilization that flourished in Late Bronze Age Greece – according to the announcement. — James Powel, USA Today, 22 May 2025

During Greece’s Mycenaean age, determining whether or not someone was falling in love required little decryption. — Serena Coady, Glamour, 19 Sep. 2024

Egypt’s hieroglyphs and the Mycenaean script known as Linear B were also notoriously indecipherable—until the Rosetta Stone and a British genius produced working keys. — Ariel Sabar, The Atlantic, 8 Aug. 2024

In this workshop, ancient Greeks produced the vibrant pigment known as Mycenaean purple—or, as the Romans called it, Tyrian purple. — Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for Mycenaean

• adlerian
• caesarian
• cyclopean
• european
• grammarian
• hercynian
• huronian
• jacobean
• maccabean
• manichaean
• manichean
• mullerian