Hun

[huhn]

See more synonyms for Hun on Thesaurus.com

noun

a member of a nomadic and warlike Asian people who devastated or controlled large parts of eastern and central Europe and who exercised their greatest power under Attila in the 5th century a.d.
(often lowercase) a barbarous, destructive person; vandal.
Older Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a German, especially a German soldier in World War I or II.

Origin of Hun

before 900; 1895–1900 for def 3; singular of Huns, Old English Hūnas; cognate with Old Norse Hūnar; akin to Late Latin Hunnī

Related formsHun·like, adjective

Usage note

The disparaging and offensive use of this term likens the Germans to the barbarous and warlike Huns of the 4th and 5th centuries. The source of the comparison was a speech by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1900, encouraging German soldiers bound for China to act toward the Chinese just like “the Huns a thousand years ago.”

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for hun

clod, ruffian, monster, Philistine, lout, boor, hooligan, rascal, brute, cannibal, bigot, beast, ignoramus, vandal, troglodyte, hun

Examples from the Web for hun

Contemporary Examples of hun

Prime Minister Hun Sen had taken power in a bloody coup in July 1997.
‘The Accidental Terrorist’: a California Accountant’s Coup
Adam Piore
May 2, 2012
He might have elicited a smile rather than a cringe had he gone to that reliable standby, “to the right of Attila the Hun.”
Analyzing the Political Humor of Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney
Mark Katz
February 15, 2012
I always felt Attila The Hun set the clearest path for himself, what would today be called his “mission statement.”
Charles Saatchi Answers Your Questions
The Daily Beast
May 31, 2010

Historical Examples of hun

The invasions of the Hun shook to its centre the western empire.
The Formation of Christendom, Volume VI
Thomas W. (Thomas William) Allies
Incidentally, it kept the Hun from coming out and bombing us.
From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with the 1st Canadian brigade
Frederic C. Curry
What made that great bunch of Yankee boys turn back the Hun hordes?
Tales of Fishes
Zane Grey
I wish to God I were back there and the hun was still resisting.
The Crimson Tide
Robert W. Chambers
If that is theosophy, I will believe it when I am old, fat and a Hun.
The Paliser case
Edgar Saltus

British Dictionary definitions for hun

Hun

noun

a member of any of several Asiatic nomadic peoples speaking Mongoloid or Turkic languages who dominated much of Asia and E Europe from before 300 bc, invading the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries a.d
informal (esp in World War I) a derogatory name for a German (def. 2)
informal a vandal

Derived FormsHunlike, adjective

Word Origin for Hun

Old English Hūnas, from Late Latin Hūnī, from Turkish Hun-yū

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

Word Origin and History for hun

Hun

Old English, person from a tribe from central Asia that overran Europe in the 4c. and 5c., from Medieval Latin Hunni, apparently ultimately from Turkic Hun-yü, the name of a tribe (they were known in China as Han or Hiong-nu). Figurative sense of "reckless destroyer of beauty" is from 1806. Applied to the German in World War I by their enemies because of stories of atrocities, but the nickname originally was urged on German soldiers bound for China by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1900, which caused a scandal.