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hun

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Hun

  [huhn]
Use hun in a Sentence
–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. Disparaging and Offensive.
a. a German soldier in World War I or II.
b. a German.
Origin:
bef. 900; 1895–1900 for def. 3b; sing. of Huns, OE Hūnas; c. ON Hūnar; akin to LL Hunnī

Related forms:
Hunlike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Hun   (hŭn)   
n.  
  1. A member of a nomadic pastoralist people who invaded Europe in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. and were defeated in 455.
  2. often hun A barbarous or destructive person.
  3. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a German, especially a German soldier in World War I.

[From Late Latin Hunnī, the Huns, from Turki Hunyü.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Hun

Hun\, n. [L. Hunni, also Chunni, and Chuni; cf. AS. H?nas, H?ne, OHG. H?ni, G. Hunnen.] One of a warlike nomadic people of Northern Asia who, in the 5th century, under Atilla, invaded and conquered a great part of Europe.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : hun
Spanish: hembra (de algunos animales),
German: die Kuh,
Japanese: 雌
More Translations »

Hun 
O.E., tribe from central Asia that overran Europe in the 4c. and 5c. (esp. under their king Attila, called Flagellum Dei "The Scourge of God"), from M.L. Hunni, apparently ult. from Turkic Hun-yü, the name of a tribe (they were known in China as Han or Hiong-nu). Fig. 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 Ger. soldiers bound for China by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1900, which caused a scandal.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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