nounWord forms: pluralAchaemenids, Achaemenidae (ˌækɪˈmɛnɪˌdiː) or Achaemenides (ˌækɪˈmɛnɪˌdiːz)
any member of a Persian dynasty of kings, including Cyrus the Great, that ruled from about 550 to 331 bc, when Darius III was overthrown by Alexander the Great
Word origin
from Greek, after Akhaimenēs, name of the founder
Achaemenid in American English
(əˈkimənɪd, əˈkemə-)
nounWord forms: pluralAchaemenids, Achaemenidae (ˌækəˈmenɪˌdi) or Achaemenides (ˌækəˈmenɪˌdiz)
a member of the dynasty of kings in ancient Persia that ruled from c550 b.c. to 331 b.c.
Word origin
[achaemen(es) + -id1]-id is a suffix of nouns that have the general sense “offspring of, descendant of,” occurringoriginally in loanwords from Greek (Atreid; Nereid), and productive in English on the Greek model, esp. in names of dynasties, withthe dynasty’s founder as the base noun (Abbasid; Attalid), and in names of periodic meteor showers, with the base noun usually denoting theconstellation or other celestial object in which the shower appears (Perseid)