barbarian

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   an uncivilized or savage person; brutish

   The historians described the invaders as barbarian hordes.

Simplified etymology

Barbarian ultimately comes from Greek barbaros, meaning “foreign” or “non-Greek.” The Greek word imitated what unfamiliar foreign speech sounded like to Greek ears—roughly “ba, ba, ba”—and was applied to people who did not speak Greek.

From Latin barbarus, from Ancient Greek barbaros ('foreign, non-Greek'), imitative of unintelligible foreign speech heard as 'bar-bar'.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary