Aryan

/ˈɛəɹi.ən/ adj, name, noun, slang

adj, name, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: A member of a race defined variously as comprising people of Germanic descent, in the narrowest sense, or all non-Jewish Caucasians, in the broadest sense
  • Grammar: aryan is listed as adj, name, noun, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: ancient indo-iranian, aryan supremacist, indo aryan, indo-aryan.
  • Useful contrasts: multicultural, non Aryan, non Indo-Iranian.
  • Usage evidence: An anthropologist wrongly applied the word "Semitic" not just to languages like Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya and Hebrew but specifically to ethnically and culturally Jewish people. More ominously, from 1880 through the Nazi period of German history, racists extended the word "Aryan," which had meant the Sanskrit-Persian language family, to deliberately foster the vile and discredited theory of a so-called Aryan race.

How to use "aryan"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "aryan" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "aryan" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

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Compare nearby meanings

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Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "aryan" is acting as adj, name, noun, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "ancient indo-iranian" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

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Final meaning check

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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of a race defined variously as comprising people of Germanic descent, in the narrowest sense, or all non-Jewish Caucasians, in the broadest sense Germanic, Nazism

    "This short sketch of the changes that take place among those races that are only the depositories of a culture also furnishes a picture of the development and the activity and the disappearance of those who are the true founders of culture on this earth, namely the Aryans themselves."

  2. 2
    a member of the prehistoric people who spoke Proto-Indo European wordnet
  3. 3
    A person of Caucasian (white / Northern European) ethnicity; a white non-Jew. informal

    "One transmission advantage may have been that espousing Aryan-supremacist and overtly Nazi ideology could have been a roundabout way of announcing, […]"

  4. 4
    (according to Nazi doctrine) a Caucasian person of Nordic descent (and not a Jew) wordnet
  5. 5
    A Caucasian racist, often one who is an Aryan in the first sense. US, euphemistic, informal

    "Cal tried to think of words that would convey Wolfgang Stahl to the ears and hands of a woman who’d never seen him and never, until now, had to imagine him. […] ‘Why not . . . why not think of your chap as a type? Tell me what type you’d sort of put him into.’ ‘Sort of?’ ‘You know . . . roughly.’ ‘He’s an Aryan.’ ‘Ah, one of those, eh? Odd when you think about it. I mean. How did they arrive at blue-eyed blonds as a racial type? Hitler’s short and dark and looks like Charlie Chaplin. Goebbels is short and ugly and looks like a rat. And as for Goering – well is that what Billy Bunter grew up to be?’"

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    An Indo-European, a Proto-Indo-European. dated

    "1905, Rossiter Johnson, LL.D., chief editor, The Great Events by Famous Historians, volume IV We have seen that when the Goths first entered Roman territory they were driven on by a vast migration of the Asiatic Huns. These wild and hideous tribes then […] appeared upon the Rhine, and in enormous numbers penetrated Gaul. No people had yet understood them, none had even checked their career. The white races seemed helpless against this "yellow peril", this "Scourge of God", as Attila was called. Goths and Romans and all the varied tribes which were ranging in perturbed whirl through unhappy Gaul laid aside their lesser enmities and met in common cause against this terrible invader. The battle of Châlons, 451, was the most tremendous struggle in which Turanian was ever matched against Aryan, the one huge bid of the stagnant, unprogressive races, for earth’s mastery."

  2. 7
    An Indo-Iranian. dated
  3. 8
    A subdivision of the Caucasian racial and linguistic grouping, when that grouping is defined as consisting of Aryans, Semites, and Hamites. dated

    "[The] Caucasian race includes two sub-races, — the Xantho-chroic and Melanochroic of Huxley. The seat of this race is Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern Asia, its linguistic division being into Aryans, Semites, and Hamites."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Pertaining, in racial theories, to the (alleged) Aryan master race.

    "Look at the ravages from which our people are suffering daily as a result of being contaminated with Jewish blood. Bear in mind the fact that this poisonous contamination can be eliminated from the national body only after centuries, or perhaps never. Think further of how the process of racial decomposition is debasing and in some cases even destroying the fundamental Aryan qualities of our German people, so that our cultural creativeness as a nation is gradually becoming impotent and we are running the danger, at least in our great cities, of falling to the level where Southern Italy is to-day."

  2. 2
    Pertaining to the Caucasian ethnicity. informal

    "Neo-Nazis use Nordic religions to fashion a more noble Aryan past and a modern Pan-Aryan community. Symbols from and references to ancient spirituality pepper neo-Nazi literature."

  3. 3
    Pertaining to Caucasian racists or their organisations, theories, etc. US, euphemistic, informal

    "Imagine our outrage if the foreign press depicted Aryan groups as representing mainstream Christianity."

  4. 4
    Of or pertaining to Indo-Iranian peoples, cultures, and languages.

    "1872-79: John Beames, A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India: to wit, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and Bangall [W]ith all due deference to the opinions of scholars, it may be urged that much of this elaborate development arose in an age when the speech of the people had wandered very far away from the classical type. Even if it were not so, even if there ever were a time when the Aryan peasant used poly-syllabic desideratives, and was familiar with multiform aorists, it is clear that he began to satisfy himself with a simpler system at a very distant epoch, for the range of forms in Pali and the other Prakrits is far narrower than in classical Sanskrit."

  5. 5
    Of or pertaining to Indo-European peoples, cultures and languages. dated

    "1905, Rossiter Johnson, LL.D., chief editor, The Great Events by Famous Historians, volume IV Who were these Teutons? Rome knew them only vaguely as wild tribes dwelling in the gloom of the great forest wilderness. In reality they were but the vanguard of vast races of human beings who through ages had been slowly populating all Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Beyond the Teutons were other Aryans, the Slavs. Beyond these were vague non-Aryan races like the Huns. […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    of or relating to the former Indo-European people wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The language of the original Aryans.
  2. 2
    A male given name of Indian usage.

Synonyms

All synonyms
ancient indo-iranianaryan supremacistindo aryanindo-aryanindo-aryan speakerindo-european

Antonyms

multiculturalnon Aryannon Indo-Iraniannonracial

Example

"An anthropologist wrongly applied the word "Semitic" not just to languages like Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya and Hebrew but specifically to ethnically and culturally Jewish people. More ominously, from 1880 through the Nazi period of German history, racists extended the word "Aryan," which had meant the Sanskrit-Persian language family, to deliberately foster the vile and discredited theory of a so-called Aryan race."

Common questions

What does "aryan" mean?

A member of a race defined variously as comprising people of Germanic descent, in the narrowest sense, or all non-Jewish Caucasians, in the broadest sense

What is a synonym for "aryan"?

Common synonyms include: ancient indo-iranian, aryan supremacist, indo aryan, indo-aryan, indo-aryan speaker, indo-european.

How do you use "aryan" in a sentence?

An anthropologist wrongly applied the word "Semitic" not just to languages like Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya and Hebrew but specifically to ethnically and culturally Jewish people. More ominously, from 1880 through the Nazi period of German history, racists extended the word "Aryan," which had meant the Sanskrit-Persian language family, to deliberately foster the vile and discredited theory of a so-called Aryan race.

How do you pronounce "aryan"?

Pronounced /ˈɛəɹi.ən/.

Etymology

Apparently originally from Classical Latin Ariānus, from Ariāna, probably after German Arier, arisch and subsequently reinforced by related Sanskrit आर्य (ā́rya, “noble; noble one”) and + -n. The Sanskrit word is from Proto-Indo-Iranian *áryas (the original Indo-Iranian autonym). Borrowed into English in the 19th century, at first as a term for the Indo-Iranian languages, and later partly extended to the Indo-European languages and peoples following a theory by Friedrich Schlegel that connected the Indo-Iranian words arya/ā́rya with German Ehre (“honor”) and some older Germanic names, thus assuming that it was the original Indo-European autonym meaning "the honorable people". The original meaning of the Indo-Iranian autonym and its possible Indo-European origin/cognates are disputed (see the Wikipedia article for further details). The same Proto-Indo-Iranian root is the ultimate source of the country name Iran.

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