Hun

American  

[huhn] / hʌn /

noun

1. 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.

2. (often lowercase) a barbarous, destructive person; vandal.

3. Older Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a German, especially a German soldier in World War I or II.

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Hun British  

/ hʌn /

noun

1. 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

2. informal (esp in World War I) a derogatory name for a German

3. informal a vandal

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Sensitive 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.”

Usage

What else does hun mean? Hun can be a term of endearment, a phonetic spelling from a shortening of honey. It's also used as a derogatory slang term for women involved in multi-level marketing.

Other Word Forms

• Hunlike adjective

Etymology

Origin of Hun

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

Example Sentences

But in 2019, under pressure from China, Hun Sen banned online gambling.

From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026

Hun Manet denied the new and improved facility would be for Beijing's "exclusive" use, saying ships from other countries would be allowed to dock.

From Barron's • Jan. 24, 2026

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Hun Manet said on Facebook that Cambodia considers "fighting tech-savvy crimes" a priority and aims at "eliminating all negative issues related to online scam crimes".

From BBC • Jan. 20, 2026

But the Cambodian government claims the lawless era has come to an end, with Prime Minister Hun Manet pledging on Facebook to "eliminate... all the problems related to the crime of cyber scams".

From Barron's • Jan. 16, 2026

Liszt spearheaded a shift from orchestral to illustrative music, using this 1850 painting of Attila the Hun in battle as the basis for his symphonic poem Hunnenschlacht.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall