Also called Sunnite.a member of one of the two great religious divisions of Islam, regarding the first four caliphs as legitimate successors of Muhammad and stressing the importance of Sunna as a basis for law. Compare Shiʿite.
2.
(used with a plural verb) the Sunni Muslims.
Origin: 1620–30; < Ar sunnī, deriv. of sunnahSunna
1626, from Arabic, lit. "lawful," from Sunna "traditional teachings of Muhammad," lit. "way, custom, course, tradition." Muslims who accept the orthodox tradition as well as the Quran.
[soo
n-ee] 