barbarian

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”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɑː(ɹ)ˈbɛə.ɹi.ən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /bɑɹˈbɛəɹ.i.ən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛəɹiən

barbarian (not comparable)

1. Relating to people, countries, or customs perceived as uncivilized or inferior.

• barbaric
• barbarous

barbarian (plural barbarians)

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.
   • 1725, Anthony Blackwall, The Sacred Classics Defended And Illustrated:

     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.
   • 1712, Ambrose Philips, The Distrest Mother:

     Thou fell barbarian.

7. (derogatory) A foreigner, especially with barbaric qualities as in the above definitions.

• (foreigner): alien, outlander, peregrine; see also Thesaurus:foreigner