mid-14c., from Medieval Latin barbarinus (source of Old French barbarin "Berber, pagan, Saracen, barbarian"), from Latin barbaria "foreign country," from Greek barbaros "foreign, strange, ignorant," from PIE root *barbar- echoic of unintelligible speech of foreigners (compare Sanskrit barbara- "stammering," also "non-Aryan," Latin balbus "stammering," Czech blblati "to stammer").
Greek barbaroi (n.) meant "all that are not Greek," but especially the Medes and Persians. Originally not entirely pejorative, its sense darkened after the Persian wars. The Romans (technically themselves barbaroi) took up the word and applied it to tribes or nations which had no Greek or Roman accomplishments. The noun is from late 14c., "person speaking a language different from one's own," also (c. 1400) "native of the Barbary coast;" meaning "rude, wild person" is from 1610s.
实用例句
1. Our maths teacher was a bully and a complete barbarian.
我们的数学老师是个坏蛋，一个彻头彻尾的野蛮人。
来自柯林斯例句
2. We need to fight this barbarian attitude to science.
我们需要与这种对待科学的野蛮态度作斗争。
来自柯林斯例句
3. barbarian invasions of the fifth century
五世纪时野蛮人的入侵
来自《权威词典》
4. The walled city was attacked by barbarian hordes.
那座有城墙的城市遭到野蛮部落的袭击.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. The rest of the clan thinks the uniform is only fit for a barbarian or a man of the lowest class.
