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Aryan

Definition of Aryan

adjective

relating to or denoting a people speaking an Indo-European language who invaded northern India in the 2nd millennium bc, displacing the Dravidian and other aboriginal peoples.
old-fashioned term for Proto-Indo-European or Indo-Iranian.
(in Nazi ideology) relating to or denoting people of Caucasian race not of Jewish descent.

The idea that there was an ‘Aryan’ race corresponding to the parent Indo-European language was proposed by certain 19th-century writers, and was taken up by Hitler and other proponents of racist ideology, but it has been generally rejected by scholars

noun

a member of the ancient Aryan people: the Aryans brought Hindu religious thought to India
[mass noun] the language of the Aryan people.
(in Nazi ideology) a person of Caucasian race not of Jewish descent: he looked the image of the ideal Aryan: tall, with Nordic blonde hair

Origin:

from Sanskrit ārya 'noble' + -an

Aryan in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of Aryan in the US English dictionary

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