Afroasiatic (
Afro-Asiatic), also known as
Afrasian and traditionally as
Hamito-Semitic (
Chamito-Semitic), is a large
language family of several hundred related languages and dialects. It comprises about 300 or so living languages and dialects, according to the 2009
Ethnologue estimate. It includes languages spoken predominantly in the
Middle East,
North Africa, the
Horn of Africa, and parts of the
Sahel.