Middle Kingdom

Meaning

Proper Noun

• China.
• Egypt from the time of its reunification under Mentuhotep II in the 11th Dynasty (ending the First Intermediate Period) to its disintegration during the 13th Dynasty and the beginning of the Second Intermediate Period.

Origin

• , eventually displacing Middle Empire, an older calque of the same term. Coined c. 1840 as part of a periodization of Ancient Egyptian history into Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms.