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 Deshwal from the University of Minnesota also collaborated on the project.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026
Aryan said Najib had denied the charges against him and showed "no remorse".
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
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
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
In this way, the Vedic religion of the Aryans religion produced the varna, a strictly hierarchical society based on inherited status.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
When the Aryans first arrived in India, chiefs were elected by the entire tribe.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
As the Aryans settled in India, they developed closer contacts with non-Aryans.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012
Had the Aryans been ancestor-worshippers Rome would have been tauvu with Athens, and the descendants of the youths driven forth in the Ver Sacrum tauvu with Rome.
From The Fijians A Study of the Decay of Custom by Basil Thomson
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.
