Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

Tungus

American  
[toong-gooz] / tʊŋˈguz /

noun

  • Tunguses,
    plural
  • Tungus
    plural
  1. Evenki.

  2. any member of a Tungusic-speaking people.


Tungus British  
/ ˈtʊŋɡʊs /

noun

  1. a member of a formerly nomadic Mongoloid people of E Siberia

  2. Also called: Evenki. the language of this people, belonging to the Tungusic branch of the Altaic family

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of Tungus

1620–30; ≪ Russian tungús, probably < Tatar, a formation with the Turkic suffix *-guz, used in ethnic names; identity of 1st element obscure


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

It is their carefully detailed attempt to account for the incredible crash that rocked the Tungus region of Siberia over half a century ago.

From Time Magazine Archive

The most numerous are the Buriats, Tungus, and Kalmuks, who lead nomadic lives, and for occupation rear their herds, hunt, and fish.

From Empires and Emperors of Russia, China, Korea, and Japan Notes and Recollections by Monsignor Count Vay de Vaya and Luskod by P?ter Vay

They talked without animation; jokes and laughter, so beloved by the Tungus, were checked by a general sense of depression, and only rarely indulged in.

From Tales by Polish Authors by Various

Daur is, in fact, the name applied by the Buryats to all the Tungus peoples of the Amur basin.

From Man, Past and Present by Alfred Court Haddon

He ate heartily and with relish, for, according to Tungus ideas, no event in life is great enough to deprive a fat reindeer of its savouriness.

From Tales by Polish Authors by Various

All the deer which we eventually owned—some eight hundred—we obtained from the Wandering Tunguses.

From Tent Life in Siberia by George Kennan

The second class comprises all the natives in eastern Siberia who are evidently and unmistakably of Mongolian origin, including the Tunguses, the Lamutkis, the Manchus, and the Gilyaks of the Amur River.

From Tent Life in Siberia by George Kennan

The account agrees generally with what we are told of the original Shamanism of the Tunguses, which recognizes a Supreme Power over all, and a small number of potent spirits called Ongot.

From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Henry Yule

We must hunt; that is what the Ostjaks and Tunguses do.

From Condemned as a Nihilist A Story of Escape from Siberia by Walter Paget

The Tunguses, however, use their few deer to better advantage and in a greater variety of ways than do the Koraks.

From Tent Life in Siberia by George Kennan

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember new words for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com