barbarian

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
13
Words With Friends
16
Letters
9
Pronunciation
/bɑː(ɹ)ˈbɛə.ɹi.ən/ (UK)
See all 2 pronunciations
/bɑː(ɹ)ˈbɛə.ɹi.ən/ (UK) · /bɑɹˈbɛəɹ.i.ən/ (US)

Definition of barbarian

8 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adj

  1. (not-comparable)Relating to people, countries, or customs perceived as uncivilized or inferior.
See all 8 definitions

adj

  1. (not-comparable)Relating to people, countries, or customs perceived as uncivilized or inferior.

noun

  1. (historical)A non-Greek or a non-Roman citizen.
  2. 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.
  3. (derogatory)A person destitute of culture; a Philistine.
    “Shall a noble writer, and an inspired noble writer, be called a solecist, and barbarian, for giving a new turn to a word so agreeable to the analogy and genius of the Greek tongue?”
  4. (derogatory)Someone from a developing country or backward culture.
  5. 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.
  6. (derogatory)A cruel, savage, inhumane, brutal, violently aggressive person, particularly one who is unintelligent or dim-witted; one without pity or empathy.
    “Thou fell barbarian.”
  7. (derogatory)A foreigner, especially with barbaric qualities as in the above definitions.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

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”).

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