hyksos means A mixed group of Asiatic people from Western Asia who took over the eastern Nile Delta, ending the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt and initiating the Second Intermediate Period.
Why “hyksos” is a great word
A foreign dynasty that seized control of the Nile Delta and ruled as pharaohs during Egypt's fractured Second Intermediate Period, c. 1650–1550 BCE. From Ancient Greek Ὑκσώς (Huksṓs), itself from Egyptian ḥqꜣ-ḫꜣst, meaning 'ruler of foreign lands', composed of ḥqꜣ ('ruler') and ḫꜣst ('foreign land'). Unlike 'Pharaoh,' which evokes the divine, native order of the Two Lands, or 'Semites,' which denotes a vast ethno-linguistic tapestry, 'Hyksos' signifies the specific, unsettling reality of the outsider enthroned—a title of reluctant acknowledgment. It is the glint of a composite bow in the sun, the rasp of Asiatic chariot wheels on Nubian sandstone, the alien silhouette of a fortified capital at Avaris amid the floodplain. They were the interregnum of sand blown through a palace, the rulers who learned too late that to govern a civilization is not to become it.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek Ὑκσώς (Huksṓs), Ὑξώς (Huxṓs), from Egyptian ḥqꜣ-ḫꜣst (“foreign ruler, Hyksos”), from ḥqꜣ (“ruler”) + ḫꜣst (“foreign land”).
noun
- A mixed group of Asiatic people from Western Asia who took over the eastern Nile Delta, ending the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt and initiating the Second Intermediate Period.“But in the New Kingdom, after the invasion of the Hyksos in their horse-drawn chariots, the horse became a more powerful image.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- pharaoh 81% match — The supreme ruler of Ancient Egypt; a formal address for the sovereign seat of power as personified by the "king" in an institutional role of Horus son of Osiris; often used by metonymy for Ancient Egyptian sovereignty vs hyksos →
- khedive 79% match — The title of the hereditary monarch of Egypt from 1805–1914, nominally ruling as a viceroy of the Sultan of Turkey. vs hyksos →
- deshret 77% match — A red crown of Ancient Egypt symbolizing control over Lower Egypt. vs hyksos →
- pschent 77% match — The double crown of ancient Egypt, combining the white crown of Upper Egypt with the red crown of Lower Egypt, worn by pharaohs after the union of the two kingdoms in around 3000 BC. vs hyksos →
- subjugate 77% match — Forced into submission; subjugated. vs hyksos →
- egyptomania 77% match — Obsessive interest shown by Westerners for ancient Egyptian culture, especially during the 19th century. vs hyksos →
- xenocracy 76% match — Government or rule by foreigners. vs hyksos →
- anakim 76% match — A race of giants, the sons of Anak, who were living in Canaan at the time of the arrival of Moses and the Israelites. vs hyksos →