Bedouin
Americannoun
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Bedouins,
plural
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Bedouin
plural
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an Arab of the desert, in Asia or Africa; nomadic Arab.
-
a nomad; wanderer.
adjective
noun
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a member of any of the nomadic tribes of Arabs inhabiting the deserts of Arabia, Jordan, and Syria, as well as parts of the Sahara
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a wanderer or rover
adjective
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of or relating to the Bedouins
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wandering or roving
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Bedouin
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English Bedoynes (plural), from Old French beduyn (singular), from Arabic badawīn “desert-dwellers,” plural of badawī, equivalent to badw “desert” + -ī a suffix indicating relationship or origin; in the Western languages, the Arabic plural form -īn was interpreted to be part of the basic form
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:
He added that more than 40 Bedouin communities would be affected and would have to be evicted.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
Before them stood 112 coffins containing bones and fragments of victims from the Abu Sharia and al-Hasayna families, two branches of the same Bedouin clan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
His Bedouin ancestors earned great wealth pearl diving—until foreign farmed pearls tanked the market and left the local economy in shambles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Clashes erupted last July in southern Syria between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes.
From Barron's ● Feb. 20, 2026
A woman in the back said, “The Bedouin were also very upset, but they said they’d just handle it themselves.”
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
As the unrest grew into open conflict involving Druze militias and armed Bedouins, the government dispatched its forces to stop the fighting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2025
Years ago, nomadic communities or Bedouins wore the traditional Arab headdress in historic Palestine, NPR reported.
From Salon ● May 1, 2024
There are roughly 300,000 Arab Bedouins in the Negev desert.
From New York Times ● Apr. 14, 2024
"There are societies like Bedouins", she told the court.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2024
I watched Drew talk with the Bedouins, heard the strange, smooth sounds falling from his lips, and was struck by the implausibility of my presence there.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
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.
