The supposed posterity of Japheth, son of Noah. The Aryan family is said to belong to this race.
“The Indo-European family of languages as known by various designations. Some style it Japhetic, as if it appertained to the descendants of the patriarch Japheth; as the Semitic tongues [appertain] to the descendants of Shem.”—Whitney: Languages, etc., lecture v. p. 192.