Berber

American  

[bur-ber] / ˈbɜr bər /

noun

• Berbers
  plural

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.

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adjective

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

Berber British  

/ 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

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adjective

1. of or relating to this people or their language

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Berbers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Berber

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Berber Berbers

But in Silicon Valley, Aschenbrenner’s stature has grown among the elite group that shares his zealotry for an AI-dominated future, report Berber Jin, Ben Cohen and Anissa Gardizy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026

According to Berber, Natixis’s chief economist, commodity-producing countries with improving market fundamentals, such as Brazil and Mexico, are most likely to weather the war-related volatility well.

From Barron's ● Mar. 9, 2026

“I ask myself if Islam is accepted in France,” she said in her parents’ apartment, where a bright orange Berber rug woven by her Moroccan grandmother hangs next to Koranic verses in Arabic.

From Seattle Times ● May 22, 2024

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the role played by Berber van der Woude, a former Dutch diplomat, in the release of the dissent letter.

From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024

They were stopped at the gates by gargantuan Berber guards with scimitars and chased away.

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

Morocco has a substantial population of Berbers, or Amazigh as they prefer to be called - some estimates put it at nearly 40% of the country's population of more than 34 million.

From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2022

Interior Minister Kamel Beldjoud traveled to Kabyle, home of Berbers, to assess the situation.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 10, 2021

Ms. Elkayam said she wept the first time she heard the aching, mesmerizing voices of those long-ago Amazighs — often called Berbers, a term some consider derogatory.

From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2021

But if you need to hunt for new shags or Berbers, you may find it’s as challenging as taking down a saber-toothed tiger.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 8, 2019

He had already set the revolted Berbers by the ears by playing upon their petty jealousies; and he now exerted his diplomacy to breed discord among the Yemenites.

From The Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole