Aryan

[ air-ee-uhn, air-yuhn, ar- ]

noun

1. Ethnology. a member or descendant of the prehistoric people who spoke Indo-European.
2. (in Nazi doctrine) a non-Jewish Caucasian, especially of Nordic stock.
3. (formerly) Indo-European.
4. (formerly) Indo-Iranian.

adjective

1. of or relating to an Aryan or the Aryans.
2. (formerly) Indo-European.
3. (formerly) Indo-Iranian.

Aryan

/ ˈɛərɪən /

noun

1. (in Nazi ideology) a Caucasian of non-Jewish descent, esp of the Nordic type
2. 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

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of an Aryan or Aryans

adjective

1. archaic.
   Indo-European

Other Words From

• non-Ary·an noun adjective
• pre-Ary·an adjective
• pseudo-Ary·an adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Aryan¹

First recorded in 1785–95; from Sanskrit ārya “of high rank” (adjective), “aristocrat” (noun) + -an

Word History and Origins

Origin of Aryan¹

C19: from Sanskrit ārya of noble birth

Example Sentences

Ultimately, that transformation was in the service of their imagined Aryan empire and their role as its masters.

From Time

Occupied Norway became a locus of the Lebensborn program, initiated in Germany by SS leader Heinrich Himmler in 1935 to encourage the birth of Aryan babies.

From Time

The region is marketed for visitors as “Aryan Valley,” and many citizens have taken to tacking on “Aryan” to their last names.

From The Daily Beast

This was later repurposed in Europe as an explanation for racial superiority, and the term “Aryan” came to define a white race.

From The Daily Beast

His work was more monumental, more violent, and promoted the Aryan struggle.

From The Daily Beast

The Aryan race was superior, the Jews were the enemy, and the Jews had to be destroyed.

From The Daily Beast

And white supremacists continue to advocate for a homeland in the Pacific Northwest for “the Aryan peoples of the earth.”

From The Daily Beast

He would have wrested race supremacy and the leading place in civilization from the Aryan for the Hamitic races.

From Project Gutenberg

What anthropologist accepts the theory of Aryan overland immigration from somewhere in Asia?

From Project Gutenberg

Among the Aryan nations an meant mind, and this term is clearly responsible for inane or without ane.

From Project Gutenberg

The Aryan fire worshippers cremated their dead so that the spirits might be transferred by fire to Paradise.

From Project Gutenberg

They had developed the religious sense, beyond any of the Aryan peoples.

From Project Gutenberg