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.
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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:
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
"What is happening today is the complete collapse of the community as a result of the settlers' continuous and repeated attacks," Farhan Jahaleen, a Bedouin from the village, told AFP in January.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
The dispute broke out early in the morning in the village of Kheshan between members of a Bedouin tribe, the official said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to brief the media.
From Barron's ● Nov. 15, 2025
She wanted to be a Bedouin when she grew up.
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
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
In recent weeks, though, as the Israeli government has aimed to portray a unified front, officials have also made public gestures toward the Bedouins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
The hooded Bedouins reappeared more and more frequently, and the camel driver—who had become a good friend of the boy’s—explained that the war between the tribes had already begun.
From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho
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.
