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Hun

(hŭn)

1. A member of a group of Central Asian nomadic pastoralist peoples who invaded Europe in the fourth and fifth centuries AD and were defeated in 455.

2. often hun A barbarous or destructive person.

3. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a German, especially a German soldier in World War I.

[From Late Latin Hunnī, the Huns, of Central Asian origin; akin to Sogdian xwn, Sanskrit hūṇaḥ, and Middle Chinese xuawŋ-nɔ (source of Mandarin Xiōngnú), a member of various Central Asian peoples or multiethnic confederations that conquered and raided the Eurasian steppes in late antiquity, probably from their self-designation .]

Hun·nic adj.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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