Aryan
Americannoun
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Aryans
plural
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Ethnology. a member or descendant of the prehistoric people who spoke Indo-European.
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(in Nazi doctrine) a non-Jewish Caucasian, especially of Nordic stock.
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(formerly) Indo-European.
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(formerly) Indo-Iranian.
adjective
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of or relating to an Aryan or the Aryans.
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(formerly) Indo-European.
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(formerly) Indo-Iranian.
noun
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(in Nazi ideology) a Caucasian of non-Jewish descent, esp of the Nordic type
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a member of any of the peoples supposedly descended from the Indo-Europeans, esp a speaker of an Iranian or Indic language in ancient times
adjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Aryan
First recorded in 1785–95; from Sanskrit ārya “of high rank” (adjective), “aristocrat” (noun) + -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Aryan Simhadri, who portrays Percy’s best friend Grover Underwood in the series, spoke out last year about an unsettling encounter with a handsy fan when a group of “40 drunk college girls” recognized him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
Prominent Aryan Germans, by contrast, faced a moral dilemma: to stay in Nazi Germany or leave.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 13, 2026
Jesse Owens, an African-American track and field athlete, won four gold medals at the 1936 Games, crushing the Nazi myth of Aryan racial supremacy.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
"But it's only as good as one season, so the negotiations are not a done job," said Pankaj Bedi, CEO of United Aryan in Nairobi.
From Barron's ● Feb. 4, 2026
Jews were not allowed to join the Hitler Youth, not even a Mischling, or “half-breed” child who had one non-Jewish parent, no matter how Aryan the child looked.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
"Iran," however, is rooted in the word "Aryan," meaning "Land of the Aryans," and has been used locally since the Sassanian era to denote the broader realm of the Persian empires.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2024
Around 1000 B.C., however, minor kings who wanted to set up territorial kingdoms arose among the Aryans.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
The Aryans differed from the dasas in many ways.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
As Chapter 3 explains, the Aryans, a nomadic people from north of the Hindu Kush mountains, swept into the Indus Valley around 1500 B.C.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
Siva is supposed to be the oldest of the Indian deities, and to have been worshipped by the aborigines of Hindostan, before the Aryans invaded that country.
From Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism With an Essay on Baal Worship, On The Assyrian Sacred "Grove," And Other by Inman, Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
