barbarian (English)
Where does "barbarian" come from?
The word 'barbarian' originated from the Ancient Greek 'bárbaros,' an onomatopoeic term used to mock foreigners whose languages sounded like 'bar-bar', much like the modern 'blah-blah.' This term passed through Latin and Medieval Latin variants before entering Middle English, evolving from a simple description of someone who spoke a different language into a label for people considered uncivilized or inferior.
Full etymology tree
- barbarian (English), 'Relating to people, countries, or customs perceived as uncivilized or inferior.'
- inherited barbarian (Middle English)
- learned borrowing barbarinus (Medieval Latin)
- derived barbaria (Latin), 'foreign country'
- derived barbarus (Latin), 'foreign, strange'
- borrowed βάρβαρος (bárbaros) (Ancient Greek), 'non-Greek-speaking, foreign'
- inherited *balb- (Proto-Indo-European)
- borrowed βάρβαρος (bárbaros) (Ancient Greek), 'non-Greek-speaking, foreign'
- suffix -ia (Latin), 'Used to form a first declension feminine abstract noun, usually from an adjective ending in -us, or (rarely in later Latin) one ending in -ius, or from a present participle stem, and occasionally from a root noun.'
- inherited -ίᾱ (-íā) (Ancient Greek), 'Primitive suffix added to the stems of adjectives in -ύς (-ús) and some nouns to form feminine gender'
- inherited *-i-eh₂ (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited -ίᾱ (-íā) (Ancient Greek), 'Primitive suffix added to the stems of adjectives in -ύς (-ús) and some nouns to form feminine gender'
- derived barbarus (Latin), 'foreign, strange'
- derived barbaria (Latin), 'foreign country'
- learned borrowing barbarinus (Medieval Latin)
- inherited barbarian (Middle English)
Direct ancestors
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris