Ruthenian

[ roo-thee-nee-uhn, -theen-yuhn ]

adjective
  1. Also Ru·thene [roo-theen] /ruˈθin/ . of or relating to the inhabitants of Ruthenia, Galicia, and neighboring regions.

noun
  1. one of the Ruthenian people.

  2. the dialect of Ukrainian spoken in Ruthenia.

  1. a member of a former Orthodox religious group that entered into communion with the Roman Catholic Church in 1596 and became the “Uniate Church of the Little Russians.”

Origin of Ruthenian

1
First recorded in 1840–50; Rutheni(a) + -an

Words Nearby Ruthenian

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Ruthenian in a sentence

  • Ruthenian is a language intermediate between Russian and Polish, but quite independent of both.

  • Poland's claims were to be left to the self-determination of the Silesian and Ruthenian populations.

  • Mr. Ardan says Ruthenian men and women drink, "farmers and Protestants being exceptions."

    Aliens or Americans? | Howard B. Grose
  • There are four Ruthenian weeklies and one monthly published in this country, and some books.

    Aliens or Americans? | Howard B. Grose
  • With regard to the Ruthenian districts of Hungary also they had made demands which had been refused by me.

    In the World War | Count Ottokar Czernin

British Dictionary definitions for Ruthenian

Ruthenian

/ (ruːˈθiːnɪən) /


adjective
  1. of or relating to Ruthenia, its people, or their dialect of Ukrainian

noun
  1. a dialect of Ukrainian

  2. a native or inhabitant of Ruthenia

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