Berber

[ bur-ber ]

noun
  1. a member of a group of North African tribes living in Barbary and the Sahara.

  2. a subfamily of Afro-Asiatic, consisting of the languages of the Berbers, including Tuareg and Kabyle.

adjective
  1. of or relating to the Berbers or their language.

Origin of Berber

1
1835–45; <Arabic barbar<Greek bárbaros;see barbarous

Words Nearby Berber

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Berber in a sentence

  • Perhaps the influence of the Berber blood in the population helps to prolong this barbarism.

  • Duly interpreted into Berber this satisfied him, and he promised to comply.

    Mogreb-el-Acksa | R. B. Cunninghame Graham
  • Breber, Baraba, Berber, all three phases of the word are found.

    Mogreb-el-Acksa | R. B. Cunninghame Graham
  • He is reckoned one of the greatest chieftains of the Berber people in the south.

    Mogreb-el-Acksa | R. B. Cunninghame Graham
  • And his instructions were to seize Metammeh and march on Berber!

    Sir John French | Cecil Chisholm

British Dictionary definitions for Berber

Berber

/ (ˈbɜːbə) /


noun
  1. a member of a Caucasoid Muslim people of N Africa

  2. the language of this people, forming a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. There are extensive differences between dialects

adjective
  1. of or relating to this people or their language

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012