Ugric

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Relating to the Ugric peoples of western Siberia and eastern Europe, or to the Finno-Ugric languages they speak
2. Describing the Ugric branch of peoples and languages, including Hungarian, Mansi and Khanty, within the wider Uralic family
3. Of or belonging to the Ugric group of ethnic communities and their tongues, found across parts of Russia and Hungary

Etymology: The adjective "Ugric" comes from Russian "угры" (ugry), the name Russians used for a group of peoples living east of the Ural Mountains. The name is older than the adjective, which was built by adding the English suffix "-ic" to it. Since the people themselves were the starting point, the word is essentially a label for a language family and its speakers rather than a description of any quality. The label therefore points to a region and a set of peoples rather than to a single language or nation. Its use in English is largely confined to scholarly contexts, where it describes the branch of languages that includes Hungarian and the languages of the Mansi and Khanty peoples of western Siberia.