vandal

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   someone who willfully destroys or defaces property

   Vandals broke a window on my car last night.

2. 2
   noun

   A person who needlessly destroys, defaces, or damages things, especially other people's property.

   Vandals spray-painted obscenities on the side of the building.

3. 3
   noun

   A member of an ancient east Germanic tribe famous for sacking Rome.

4. 4
   adj

   Of or relating to the Vandals.

5. 5
   name

   An extinct East Germanic language ascribed to have been spoken by the Vandals.

Etymology

From Latin Vandalus, named after the Germanic tribe, from Proto-Germanic *wandilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ-eh₂-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ- (“to turn, wind, braid”). Also related to Old English Wendlas.