Armenian

How to spell armenian

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce armenian

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does armenian mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Armenia, its people, its language, or its culture.
2. nounA native or inhabitant of Armenia, or the language spoken there.

Armenian in a sentence

• adjective

  The restaurant serves traditional armenian flatbread baked in a clay oven.

• noun

  My neighbour is an armenian who grew up near the Caucasus mountains.

• adjective

  She studied armenian church architecture during her trip to Yerevan.

• noun

  He is learning armenian so he can read his grandmother's old letters.

Where does armenian come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word is built from the country name Armenia plus the suffix -ian, which English uses to form adjectives and nouns of belonging, as in 'Italian' and 'Canadian'. The place name reaches English through Latin Armenia and Greek Armenia, which the ancient world used for the highland region south of the Caucasus. The Greeks in turn seem to have taken it from an older Near Eastern name; one early attestation appears in the Old Persian inscriptions of King Darius, where the land is called Armina. The Armenians themselves, however, call their country Hayastan and themselves Hay, so the English name preserves the outsiders' label rather than the native one. The -ian ending is the spelling trap to remember: keep the single 'n' of Armen and add the familiar '-ian' you already write in 'civilian' and 'historian'.

How the word is built

• Armen- (from Armenia, the country name)
• -ian (adjective/noun suffix meaning 'relating to' or 'a person of')