Of or pertaining to Shem or his descendants; belonging to that division of the Caucasian race which includes the Arabs, Jews, and related races.

Designating a major subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages which include: Northeastern (Akkadian), Northwestern (Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, etc.), and Southwestern (Arabic, Ethiopic, etc.); derived from Noah's son Shem ("Name"), who was said to be father of the Hebrews, Elamites, Assyrians and Arabians; commonly refers to the Jewish race

relating to a group of people living in southwestern Asia represented now by Jews and Arabs and in ancient times by Babylonians, Assyrians, Arameans, Canaanites, and Phoenicians

a major branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family