barbarian
Meanings
adj
- Relating to people, countries, or customs perceived as uncivilized or inferior.
noun
- A non-Greek or a non-Roman citizen.
- An uncivilized or uncultured person, originally compared to the hellenistic Greco-Roman civilisation; usually associated with senseless violence and self-harm or other such shows of brute force and lack of mental faculty.
- A person destitute of culture; a Philistine.
- Someone from a developing country or backward culture.
- A brutish warrior depicted in sword and sorcery and other fantasy works; typically clad in primitive furs or leather and usually favoring physical strength over intelligence while often possessing a bellicose temperament and disdain for laws.
- A cruel, savage, inhumane, brutal, violently aggressive person, particularly one who is unintelligent or dim-witted; one without pity or empathy.
- A foreigner, especially with barbaric qualities as in the above definitions.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle English barbarian, borrowed from Medieval Latin barbarinus (“Berber, pagan, foreigner”), from Latin barbaria (“foreign country”), from barbarus (“foreigner, savage”), from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “foreign, non-Greek, strange”), possibly onomatopoeic (mimicking foreign languages, akin to English blah blah). Cognate to Sanskrit बर्बर (barbara, “barbarian, non-Aryan, stammering, blockhead”).
Synonyms
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Derived words
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