hun

hun

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Hungarian.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Hungarian terms

• IPA^(key): /hʌn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌn

Clipping of honey with pronunciation spelling.

hun (plural huns)

1. (informal) Alternative spelling of hon (“affectionate abbreviation of honey”).
   • 2025 June 13, Marina Hyde, “So social media has broken even Elon Musk. I’m forced to ask: U OK hun?”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     So social media has broken even Elon Musk. I’m forced to ask: U OK hun? [title]

2. (UK, slang) A woman perceived as basic, brash, working class and fond of alcohol.
   • 2023 January 25, Laura Craik, “They’re glamorous, ageless and British – the rise of the high-end hun”, in The Telegraph‎^[2]:

     Answer: you are a hun – but a high-end hun, one who knows her wine, her music, her interiors and her labels, and whose reluctance to do Dry January, or go vegan makes her such great company, this month and every month.

   • 2024 March 29, Louis Staples, “Natalie Cassidy: ‘I’m very proud to be a hun’”, in i‎^[3]:

     It’s no wonder she’s become a central figure in “hun culture” – an online subculture that idolises a certain strata of famous working-class British women, while also taking the mick out of her leopard print kettle and weakness for a premixed gin-in-a-tin cocktail.

3. (slang) A woman involved in a multi-level marketing scheme, especially one who pushes it on social media.
   • 2019 July 10, Jessica Lindsay, “Hunzoning is the trend that sees you going from friend to MLM recruit”, in Metro‎^[4]:

     This corporate love-bombing can serve a hun well, bagging them new downlines and potentially more money (MLMs are renowned for extremely low pay).

   • 2024 April 18, Aimee Pearcy, “Why Reddit and TikTok are hating on MLM 'huns'”, in Business Insider‎^[5]:

     Instead of blaming MLM "huns," we should direct our anger at the companies that are knowingly putting so many people in debt and alienating them from their communities.

Clipping of Hungarian partridge.

hun (plural huns)

1. A grey partridge.

hun (plural huns)

1. Alternative form of hoon (“Indian gold coin”).

• nuh, unh

• hund, hunn, hònn (Walser)
• Hund

From Middle High German hunt, from Old High German hunt, from Proto-Germanic *hundaz. Cognate with German Hund, Dutch hond, English hound, Icelandic hundur.

hun m

1. (Formazza) dog

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

hun ?

1. sleep

Learned borrowing from Late Latin Hunni.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈun]
• Homophone: un

hun m (plural huns, feminine huna, feminine plural hunes)

1. Hun

• húnnic

• “hun”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “hun”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “hun” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

From Old Norse hón (“she”), from Proto-Norse *ᚺᚨᚾᚢ (*hanu), the feminine form, with u-umlaut, of *ᚺᚨᚾᚨᛉ (*hanaʀ) (= Danish han (“he”), Old Norse hann).

• IPA^(key): [hun]

hun (objective case hende, possessive hendes)

1. (personal) she

• “hun,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

hun c (singular definite hunnen, plural indefinite hunner)

1. female, she

• “hun,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key): /ɦʏn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hun
• Rhymes: -ʏn

Originally a mere spelling variant of hen.^[1]

Possessive hun started replacing haar from the 15th century, first only for masculine and neuter plural.

hun (personal)

1. dative case of the third-person plural personal pronoun: them, to them
2. (proscribed) accusative case of the third-person plural personal pronoun: them

The difference between hen (as direct object) and hun (as indirect object) does not stem from actual language usage, but was created artificially by the prescriptive grammarian Christiaen van Heule in the 17th century in an attempt to differentiate between the accusative (direct object) and dative case (indirect object), a distinction that was then commonly made in the definite article and certain pronouns, but not the personal pronouns.

In practice, hen and hun have been used interchangeably in Modern Dutch since the language has lost its grammatical case system. Many native speakers are not aware or have trouble remembering when to use one over the other, in part because of the rule's artificiality, in part because the distinction in form between the accusative and dative case has not been preserved anywhere else in the language. As a consequence, it is common to hear sentences where they are used in the exactly opposite way from van Heule's rule; for example:

• Hij heeft hun verraden. (“He has betrayed them.”)
• Ze zijn met hun uitgegaan. (“They have gone out with them.”)
• Ik heb het hen gegeven. (“I have given it to them.”)

When the pronoun is unstressed, the problem can be circumvented by using the reduced form ze:

• Hij heeft ze verraden.
• Ze zijn met ze uitgegaan.
• Ik heb het ze gegeven.

For more information, see the article in the Dutch Wikipedia.

hun (dependent possessive, independent possessive hunne)

1. their; third-person plural possessive determiner

   Ken je hun broer?

   Do you know their brother?

Likely a replacement of or based on dialectal Dutch hullie or a variant thereof, which is a contraction of hunlieden or hunlui, a compound of hun ("them") + lieden or lui (both meaning "men, people"), which then translates roughly into "them-people". Possibly reinfluenced by or confused with the possessive hun. This etymology explains why usage of hun occurs only when referring to people, never to objects. It's similar to dialectal zun often used colloquially in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which is a contraction of ze ("they") + hun ("them"), and which is also only used for people. Also compare Afrikaans hulle, which also stems from hunlui, but is now used also for things. For more information, see the article in the Dutch Wikipedia.

hun (personal)

1. (proscribed, regiolectal, Netherlands) The nominative case of the third-person plural personal pronoun: they (only referring to people)

   Synonyms: zijlui, zijlieden

• The use of hun as a subject is considered incorrect or substandard by most speakers, both in written and spoken language, and only occurs in the Netherlands.
• For a 3rd person plural pronoun referring to people only, zijlui or zijlieden can be used instead.

For pronunciation and definitions of hun – see 分 (“to divide; to separate; to distribute; to allocate; to assign; to allot; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 分).

• IPA^(key): [ˈhun]
• Rhymes: -un

Borrowed from Latin Hunni.^[1][2]

hun (not comparable)

1. Hunnic, Hunnish (of or relating to the Huns)

hun (plural hunok)

1. Hun (a member of a nomadic tribe)

From hol.

hun

2. (dialectal) alternative form of hol (“where”)

• sehun (dialectal)

• (Hun, Hunnic): hun in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.
• (where [dialectal]): hun in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

From Malay hun, from Hokkien 分 (hun, “to divide; to separate; to distribute; to allocate; to assign; to allot; etc”).

hun (plural hun-hun)

1. (historical) hoon (A unit of weight equivalent to one hundredth of a tahil); candareen

   Synonym: kenderi

   • 1918, Merari Siregar, chapter I, in Si Djamin dan Si Djohan‎^[6], Weltevreden: Balai Pustaka:

     „Kasi tjandoe empat hoen," kata perempoewan itoe dengan soewara agak njaring kepada seorang hèlper (penolong) jang sedang doedoek menghadapi médja, Ditentang djendéla ketjil, tempat orang membeli tjandoe.

     ["Kasih candu empat hun," kata perempuan itu dengan suara agak nyaring kepada seorang helper yang sedang duduk menghadapi meja, di tentang jendela kecil tempat orang membeli candu.]

     "Give me four hoons of opium," she said somewhat loudly to a helper sitting at a table by a small window where opium was sold.

• “hun” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Chinese 園 (MC hjwon).

hun 

1. garden

Compare Tolai vudu and Patpatar hudu.

hun

1. banana

• Mosel, Ulrike (1980) Tolai and Tok Pisin: the influence of the substratum on the development of New Guinea Pidgin (Pacific Linguistics; Series B, no. 73)‎^[7], Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN

hun (plural hun-hun)

1. A unit of weight equal to one hundredth of a tahil.

hun (hun⁵ / hun⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄏㄨㄣ)

1. nonstandard spelling of hūn
2. nonstandard spelling of hún
3. nonstandard spelling of hǔn
4. nonstandard spelling of hùn

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

hun

1. alternative form of hund (“hundred”)

• IPA^(key): /hʉn/

hun

1. h-prothesized form of un

hun

1. time

• hönj (Mooring)
• Hun (Sylt)

From Old Frisian hond. Cognates include West Frisian hân.

hun f (plural hunen)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) hand

   a rocht(er) hun ― the right hand

• One of the original feminines that still commonly take the reduced article a (as above). See at for further information.

From Danish hun, from Old Norse hón.

• IPA^(key): /hʉn/
• Homophones: hund, hunn
• Rhymes: -ʉn

hun (accusative henne, genitive hennes)

1. she

• hunkjønn / hunnkjønn

• ho (Nynorsk)
• hoe (Nynorsk)

From Old Norse húnn (“a die”).

• hon

hun m (definite singular hunen, indefinite plural huner, definite plural hunene)

1. back board

• “hun” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Old Norse húnn (“bear cub”),^[1] from Proto-Germanic *hūnaz.

hun m (definite singular hunen, indefinite plural hunar, definite plural hunane)

1. a bear cub

   Synonym: bjørnunge

From Old Norse húnn (“die”).^[1]

• (since 2019) hon^[2]

hun m (definite singular hunen, indefinite plural hunar, definite plural hunane)

1. back part of a log that might still be used as a plank

From Old Norse húnar, húnir pl.

hun m (definite singular hunen, indefinite plural hunar, definite plural hunane)

1. a Hun (a member of a nomadic tribe from Central Asia)

   Synonym: hunar

• “hun”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

From Old Norse hón.

hun

1. she / it (feminine nominative pronoun)

• Danish: hun

Unclear. Possibly a shortening of hund (“dog”) or from Old Norse hunn (“bear cub”).

hun m

1. a common element in given names

• Elizabeth Okasha (2011) Women's Names in Old English, London, England: Routledge, page 65

hun

1. alternative form of ũu

hun

1. manuscript spelling of Hūn, nominative singular of Hūni

Borrowed from French Huns, from Latin Hunni.

hun m (plural huni)

1. Hun

From *pun, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *puqun, compare Malay pohon.

hun

1. bottom, base
2. beginning
3. origin

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [hun˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [hun˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [hʊwŋ͡m˧˧]

Typical Central and Southern Vietnamese retention of medial *u, which often developed into ‹ô› (or ‹o›) in Northern dialects; later strengthened with the use of "slang" to avoid awkward situations. Compare rún vs. rốn, thúi vs. thối.

hun • (㖧)

1. Central Vietnam and Southern Vietnam form of hôn (“to kiss”)

• The Northern form with [o] is pretty much never used in daily speech by speakers of Central and Southern dialects, although they might choose to use it in formal writing.

• thơm, hôn, chu, chụt, mi

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 熏 (SV: huân).

hun • (焝, 熏, 燻)

1. to smoke (to preserve or prepare (food) for consumption by treating with smoke)

• nhu

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /hɨːn/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /hiːn/

Lexicalised h-prothesised form of un.

hun

1. (with possessive determiner) self

   Synonym: hunan

   fy hun ― myself

   ei hun ― himself, herself

   ein hun ― ourselves

2. (with possessive determiner preceding both itself and the noun) own

   Synonym: hunan

   fy ngeiriau fy hun ― my own words

   ei syniad ei hun ― his/her own idea

   ein cartref ein hun ― our own home

• Hun tends to be more common in the north and synonymous hunan in the south, although plural hunain is also found in north at times.

hun

1. h-prothesized form of un

   ei hun ei hun ― her own (one)

   (Compare: ei un ei hun ― his own (one))

From Proto-Brythonic *hʉn, from Proto-Celtic *sounos, from Proto-Indo-European *swépnos (“sleep”).

hun f (plural hunau, not mutable)

1. sleep

• anhun (“wakefulness”)
• di-hun (“awake”)
• hunllef (“nightmare”)
• huno (“to sleep”)

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “hun”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Cognate with Yoruba sùn.

• IPA^(key): /hũ̀/

hùn

1. (Ikalẹ, Ilajẹ) to sleep

   Kítà é hùn. ― The dog is sleeping.

• àìhùn (“sleeplessness”)

• IPA^(key): /hũ̄/

hun

1. to weave

   Mo fẹ́ hun aṣọ òfì wọn, fún ayẹyẹ wọn, lọ́sẹ̀ tó ń bọ̀. ― I want to weave their clothes, for their celebration, this upcoming week

• ahunṣọ (“weaver”)

hun

1. obsolete spelling of jun