Hungarians

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. People belonging to the ethnic group originating from Hungary; individuals who speak the Hungarian language; members of the nation with cultural and historical ties to Hungary
2. A group of individuals native to or descended from Hungary; speakers of the unique Uralic language found primarily in Central Europe; citizens or natives sharing Hungarian heritage and traditions
3. Persons identified by their association with Hungary either through ethnicity, language, or nationality; those who culturally or ancestrally stem from the Hungarian homeland; people recognized as part of the Hungarian community worldwide

Etymology: "Hungarians" is simply the plural of "Hungarian," so the word's history is the history of its singular form. "Hungarian" is built from "Hungary" with the suffix "-an," which English uses to mark a person or thing belonging to or associated with a place, as in "Parisian" or "American." The pattern is ordinary, so the interest lies in the place name rather than the suffix. What matters for English is that the country name was already established, and the adjective and noun formed from it follow the regular English pattern for national and regional descriptors.

Synonyms: Magyars