Berber

American  

[bur-ber] / ˈbɜr bər /

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.

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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

Etymology

Origin of Berber

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

Example Sentences

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

This week, Berber Jin and Ellen Gamerman report on Anthropic’s 37-year-old resident philosopher, who has been tasked with giving the company’s chatbot a sense of right and wrong.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 13, 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