Abuna
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The Patriarch, or head of the Abyssinian Church.
"Around these leaders are still numerous hereditary dynasties of non-monastic clergy who, over the centuries, might swarm in their thousands to seek ordination on the abun’s rare visits to their area."
- 2 The title of the leader, or patriarch, of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
"Two weeks later, before Abunas Pēṭros and Mātēwos, Menilek publicly swore not to deceive Mangashā nor cause him any harm."
- 1 A river in northeastern Bolivia that forms part of its border with Brazil. uncountable
Example
More examples"Around these leaders are still numerous hereditary dynasties of non-monastic clergy who, over the centuries, might swarm in their thousands to seek ordination on the abun’s rare visits to their area."
Etymology
From Amharic አቡነ (ʾäbunä), Arabic أَبُونَا (ʔabūnā, “our father”).
From Portuguese Abunã.
From Ge'ez አቡነ (ʾäbunä, “our father”), from Arabic أَبُونَا (ʔabūnā, “our father”), from أَبُو (ʔabū), a form of أَب (ʔab, “father”), and ـنَا (-nā, “our”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.