hun

See also: Appendix:Variations of "hun"

Languages (28)

Translingual • English

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Alemannic German • Breton • Catalan • Danish • Dutch • Hokkien • Hungarian • Iu Mien • Label • Malay • Mandarin • Middle English • Middle Welsh • Mizo • North Frisian • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old English • Old Galician-Portuguese • Old High German • Romanian • Tetum • Vietnamese • Welsh • Yoruba • Yucatec Maya

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Page categories

Translingual

Symbol

hun

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Hungarian.

See also

• Wiktionary's coverage of Hungarian terms

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hʌn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌn

Etymology 1

Clipping of honey with pronunciation spelling.

Noun

hun (plural huns)

1. (informal) Alternative spelling of hon (“affectionate abbreviation of honey”)
2. (UK, slang) A woman perceived as basic, brash, working class and fond of alcohol.
   • 2023 January 25, Laura Craik, “They’re glamorous, ageless and British – the rise of the high-end hun”, in The Telegraph‎^[1]:

     Answer: you are a hun – but a high-end hun, one who knows her wine, her music, her interiors and her labels, and whose reluctance to do Dry January, or go vegan makes her such great company, this month and every month.

   • 2024 March 29, Louis Staples, “Natalie Cassidy: ‘I’m very proud to be a hun’”, in i‎^[2]:

     It’s no wonder she’s become a central figure in “hun culture” – an online subculture that idolises a certain strata of famous working-class British women, while also taking the mick out of her leopard print kettle and weakness for a premixed gin-in-a-tin cocktail.

3. (slang) A woman involved in a multi-level marketing scheme, especially one who pushes it on social media.
   • 2019 July 10, Jessica Lindsay, “Hunzoning is the trend that sees you going from friend to MLM recruit”, in Metro‎^[3]:

     This corporate love-bombing can serve a hun well, bagging them new downlines and potentially more money (MLMs are renowned for extremely low pay).

   • 2024 April 18, Aimee Pearcy, “Why Reddit and TikTok are hating on MLM 'huns'”, in Business Insider‎^[4]:

     Instead of blaming MLM "huns," we should direct our anger at the companies that are knowingly putting so many people in debt and alienating them from their communities.

Derived terms

• hunzone

Etymology 2

Short for Hungarian partridge.

Noun

hun (plural huns)

1. A grey partridge.

Etymology 3

Noun

hun (plural huns)

1. Alternative form of hoon (“Indian gold coin”)

Anagrams

• nuh, unh

Alemannic German

Alternative forms

• hund, hunn, hònn (Walser)
• Hund

Etymology

From Middle High German hunt, from Old High German hunt, from Proto-Germanic *hundaz. Cognate with German Hund, Dutch hond, English hound, Icelandic hundur.

Noun

hun m

1. (Formazza) dog

References

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Breton

Noun

hun ?

1. sleep

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Late Latin Hunni.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈun]
• Homophone: un

Noun

hun m (plural huns, feminine huna)

1. Hun

Related terms

• húnnic

Further reading

• “hun” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “hun”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “hun” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse hón (“she”), from Proto-Norse *ᚺᚨᚾᚢ (*hanu), the feminine form, with u-umlaut, of *ᚺᚨᚾᚨᛉ (*hanaʀ) (= Danish han (“he”), Old Norse hann).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [hun]

Pronoun

hun (objective case hende, possessive hendes)

1. (personal) she

See also

Danish personal pronouns

Number	Person	Type	Nominative	Oblique	Possessive
					common	neuter	plural
Singular	First	–	jeg	mig	min	mit	mine
	Second	modern / informal	du	dig	din	dit	dine
		formal (uncommon)	De	Dem	Deres
	Third	masculine (person)	han	ham	hans
		feminine (person)	hun	hende	hendes
		common (noun)	den		dens
		neuter (noun)	det		dets
		indefinite	man	en	ens
		reflexive	–	sig	sin	sit	sine
Plural	First	modern	vi	os	vores
		archaic / formal			vor	vort	vore
	Second	–	I	jer	jeres
	Third	–	de	dem	deres
		reflexive	–	sig

References

• “hun,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Noun

hun c (singular definite hunnen, plural indefinite hunner)

1. female, she

Declension

Declension of hun

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	hun	hunnen	hunner	hunnerne
genitive	huns	hunnens	hunners	hunnernes

References

• “hun,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɦʏn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hun
• Rhymes: -ʏn

Etymology 1

Originally a mere spelling variant of hen.

Possessive hun started replacing haar from the 15th century, first only for masculine and neuter plural.

Pronoun

hun (personal)

1. The dative case of the third-person plural personal pronoun: them, to them
2. (proscribed) The accusative case of the third-person plural personal pronoun: them

Usage notes

The difference between hen (as direct object) and hun (as indirect object) does not stem from actual language usage, but was created artificially by the prescriptive grammarian Christiaen van Heule in the 17th century in an attempt to differentiate between the accusative (direct object) and dative case (indirect object), a distinction that was then commonly made in the definite article and certain pronouns, but not the personal pronouns.

In practice, hen and hun have been used interchangeably in Modern Dutch since the language has lost its grammatical case system. Many native speakers are not aware or have trouble remembering when to use one over the other, in part because of the rule's artificiality, in part because the distinction in form between the accusative and dative case has not been preserved anywhere else in the language. As a consequence, it is common to hear sentences where they are used in the exactly opposite way from van Heule's rule; for example:

• Hij heeft hun verraden. (“He has betrayed them.”)
• Ze zijn met hun uitgegaan. (“They have gone out with them.”)
• Ik heb het hen gegeven. (“I have given it to them.”)

When the pronoun is unstressed, the problem can be circumvented by using the reduced form ze:

• Hij heeft ze verraden.
• Ze zijn met ze uitgegaan.
• Ik heb het ze gegeven.

For more information, see the article in the Dutch Wikipedia.

Pronoun

hun (personal) (dependent possessive) (independent possessive hunne)

1. The third-person plural possessive pronoun: their

   Ken je hun broer?

   Do you know their brother?

Declension

Dutch personal pronouns

	subject		object		possessive			reflexive	genitive5
singular	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	full	unstr.	pred.
1st person	ik	'k1	mij	me	mijn	m'n1	mijne	me	mijner, mijns
2nd person	jij	je	jou	je	jouw	je	jouwe	je	jouwer, jouws
2nd person archaic or regiolectal	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u, zich7	uwer, uws
3rd person masculine	hij	ie1	hem	'm1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
3rd person feminine	zij	ze	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	haar	h'r1, 'r1, d'r1	hare	zich	harer, haars
3rd person neuter	het	't1	het	't1	zijn	z'n1	zijne	zich	zijner, zijns
plural
1st person	wij	we	ons	–	ons, onze2	–	onze	ons	onzer, onzes
2nd person	jullie	je	jullie	je	jullie	je	–	je	–
2nd person archaic or regiolectal6	gij	ge	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u	uwer, uws
2nd person formal	u	–	u	–	uw	–	uwe	u, zich7	uwer, uws
3rd person	zij	ze	hen3, hun4	ze	hun	–	hunne	zich	hunner, huns
1) Not as common in written language. 2) Inflected as an adjective. 3) In prescriptivist use, used only as direct object (accusative). 4) In prescriptivist use, used only as indirect object (dative). 5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, gelle (object form elle) and variants are commonly used colloquially in Belgium. Archaic forms are gijlieden and gijlui ("you people").				7) Zich is preferred if the reflexive pronoun immediately follows the subject pronoun u, e.g. Meldt u zich aan! 'Log in!', and if the subject pronoun u is used with a verb form that is identical with the third person singular but different from the informal second person singular, e.g. U heeft zich aangemeld. 'You have logged in.' Only u can be used in an imperative if the subject pronoun is not overt, e.g. Meld u aan! 'Log in!', where u is the reflexive pronoun. Otherwise, both u and zich are equally possible, e.g. U meldt u/zich aan. 'You log in.'

Related terms

• zij, ze
• hen

Etymology 2

Likely a replacement of or based on dialectal Dutch hullie or a variant thereof, which is a contraction of hunlieden or hunlui, a compound of hun ("them") + lieden or lui (both meaning "men, people"), which then translates roughly into "them-people". Possibly reinfluenced by or confused with the possessive hun. This etymology explains why usage of hun occurs only when referring to people, never to objects. It's similar to dialectal zun often used colloquially in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which is a contraction of ze ("they") + hun ("them"), and which is also only used for people. Also compare Afrikaans hulle, which also stems from hunlui, but is now used also for things. For more information, see the article in the Dutch Wikipedia.

Pronoun

hun (personal)

1. (proscribed, regiolectal, Netherlands) The nominative case of the third-person plural personal pronoun: they (only referring to people)

   Synonyms: zijlui, zijlieden

Usage notes

• The use of hun as a subject is considered incorrect or substandard by most speakers, both in written and spoken language, and only occurs in the Netherlands.
• For a 3rd person plural pronoun referring to people only, zijlui or zijlieden can be used instead.

Hokkien

For pronunciation and definitions of hun – see 分 (“to divide; to separate; to distribute; to allocate; to assign; to allot; etc.”). (This term is the pe̍h-ōe-jī form of 分).

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhun]
• Rhymes: -un

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin Hunni.

Adjective

hun (not comparable)

1. Hunnic, Hunnish (of or relating to the Huns)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	hun	hunok
accusative	hunt	hunokat
dative	hunnak	hunoknak
instrumental	hunnal	hunokkal
causal-final	hunért	hunokért
translative	hunná	hunokká
terminative	hunig	hunokig
essive-formal	hunként	hunokként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	hunban	hunokban
superessive	hunon	hunokon
adessive	hunnál	hunoknál
illative	hunba	hunokba
sublative	hunra	hunokra
allative	hunhoz	hunokhoz
elative	hunból	hunokból
delative	hunról	hunokról
ablative	huntól	hunoktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	huné	hunoké
non-attributive possessive - plural	hunéi	hunokéi

Noun

hun (plural hunok)

1. Hun (a member of a nomadic tribe)

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
	singular	plural
nominative	hun	hunok
accusative	hunt	hunokat
dative	hunnak	hunoknak
instrumental	hunnal	hunokkal
causal-final	hunért	hunokért
translative	hunná	hunokká
terminative	hunig	hunokig
essive-formal	hunként	hunokként
essive-modal	—	—
inessive	hunban	hunokban
superessive	hunon	hunokon
adessive	hunnál	hunoknál
illative	hunba	hunokba
sublative	hunra	hunokra
allative	hunhoz	hunokhoz
elative	hunból	hunokból
delative	hunról	hunokról
ablative	huntól	hunoktól
non-attributive possessive - singular	huné	hunoké
non-attributive possessive - plural	hunéi	hunokéi

Possessive forms of hun
possessor	single possession	multiple possessions
1st person sing.	hunom	hunjaim
2nd person sing.	hunod	hunjaid
3rd person sing.	hunja	hunjai
1st person plural	hununk	hunjaink
2nd person plural	hunotok	hunjaitok
3rd person plural	hunjuk	hunjaik

Etymology 2

From hol.

Adverb

hun

2. (dialectal) Alternative form of hol (“where”).

Derived terms

• sehun (dialectal)

Further reading

• (Hun, Hunnic): hun in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
• (where [dialectal]): hun in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (“The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language”, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

Iu Mien

Etymology

From Chinese 園 (MC hjwon).

Noun

hun 

1. garden

Label

Etymology

Compare Tolai vudu and Patpatar hudu.

Noun

hun

1. banana

References

• Mosel, Ulrike (1980) Tolai and Tok Pisin: the influence of the substratum on the development of New Guinea Pidgin (Pacific Linguistics; Series B, no. 73)‎^[5], Canberra: Australian National University, →ISBN

Malay

Noun

hun (plural hun-hun, informal 1st possessive hunku, 2nd possessive hunmu, 3rd possessive hunnya)

1. A unit of weight equal to one hundredth of a tahil.

Mandarin

Romanization

hun (hun⁵ / hun⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄏㄨㄣ)

1. Nonstandard spelling of hūn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of hún.
3. Nonstandard spelling of hǔn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of hùn.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle English

Noun

hun

1. Alternative form of hund (“hundred”)

Middle Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hʉn/

Numeral

hun

1. h-prothesized form of un

Mizo

Noun

hun

1. time

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• hönj (Mooring)
• Hun (Sylt)

Etymology

From Old Frisian hond. Cognates include West Frisian hân.

Noun

hun f (plural hunen)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) hand

   a rocht(er) hun ― the right hand

Usage notes

• One of the original feminines that still commonly take the reduced article a (as above). See at for further information.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Danish hun, from Old Norse hón.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hʉn/
• Homophones: hund, hunn
• Rhymes: -ʉn

Pronoun

hun (accusative henne, genitive hennes)

1. she

Derived terms

• hunkjønn / hunnkjønn

See also

    Personal pronouns in Bokmål

Number	Person	Type	Nominative	Oblique	Possessive
					feminine	masculine	neuter	plural
Singular	First	–	jeg	meg	mi	min	mitt	mine
	Second	general	du	deg	di	din	ditt	dine
		formal (rare)	De	Dem	Deres
	Third	feminine (person)	hun	henne	hennes
		masculine (person)	han	ham / han	hans
		feminine (noun)	den		dens
		masculine (noun)
		neuter (noun)	det		dets
		reflexive	–	seg	si	sin	sitt	sine
Plural	First	–	vi	oss	vår		vårt	våre
	Second	general	dere		deres
		formal (very rare)	De	Dem	Deres
	Third	general	de	dem	deres
		reflexive	–	seg	si	sin	sitt	sine

• ho (Nynorsk)
• hoe (Nynorsk)

Etymology 2

From Old Norse húnn (“a die”).

Alternative forms

• hon

Noun

hun m (definite singular hunen, indefinite plural huner, definite plural hunene)

1. back board

References

• “hun” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

hun

From Old Norse húnn (“bear cub”), from Proto-Germanic *hūnaz.

Noun

hun m (definite singular hunen, indefinite plural hunar, definite plural hunane)

1. a bear cub

   Synonym: bjørnunge

Etymology 2

bakhunar

From Old Norse húnn (“die”).

Alternative forms

• (since 2019) hon

Noun

hun m (definite singular hunen, indefinite plural hunar, definite plural hunane)

1. back part of a log that might still be used as a plank

Etymology 3

From Old Norse húnar, húnir pl.

Noun

hun m (definite singular hunen, indefinite plural hunar, definite plural hunane)

1. a Hun (a member of a nomadic tribe from Central Asia)

   Synonym: hunar

References

• “hun”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

Old English

Etymology

Unclear. Possibly a shortening of hund (“dog”) or from Old Norse hunn (“bear cub”).

Noun

hun m

1. a common element in given names

References

• Elizabeth Okasha (2011) Women's Names in Old English, London, England: Routledge, page 65

Old Galician-Portuguese

Article

hun

1. Alternative form of ũu

Old High German

Proper noun

hun

1. manuscript spelling of Hūn, nominative singular of Hūni

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French Huns, from Latin Hunni.

Noun

hun m (plural huni)

1. Hun

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	hun	hunul		huni	hunii
genitive-dative	hun	hunului		huni	hunilor
vocative	hunule			hunilor

Tetum

Etymology

From *pun, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *puqun, compare Malay pohon.

Noun

hun

1. bottom, base
2. beginning
3. origin

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [hun˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [hun˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [hʊwŋ͡m˧˧]

Etymology 1

Typical Central and Southern Vietnamese retention of medial *u, which often developed into ‹ô› (or ‹o›) in Northern dialects; later strengthened with the use of "slang" to avoid awkward situations. Compare rún vs. rốn, thúi vs. thối.

Verb

hun • (㖧)

1. Central Vietnam and Southern Vietnam form of hôn (“to kiss”)

Usage notes

• The Northern form with [o] is pretty much never used in daily speech by speakers of Central and Southern dialects, although they might choose to use it in formal writing.

Synonyms

• thơm, hôn, chu, chụt, mi

Etymology 2

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 熏 (SV: huân).

Verb

hun • (焝, 熏, 燻)

1. to smoke (to preserve or prepare (food) for consumption by treating with smoke)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• hun đúc
• hun khói

 

Anagrams

• nhu

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /hɨːn/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /hiːn/

Etymology 1

Lexicalised h-prothesised form of un.

Pronoun

hun

1. (with possessive determiner) self

   Synonym: hunan

   fy hun ― myself

   ei hun ― himself, herself

   ein hun ― ourselves

2. (with possessive determiner preceding both itself and the noun) own

   Synonym: hunan

   fy ngeiriau fy hun ― my own words

   ei syniad ei hun ― his/her own idea

   ein cartref ein hun ― our own home

Usage notes

• Hun tends to be more common in the north and synonymous hunan in the south, although plural hunain is also found in north at times.

Personal forms

Personal forms (literary & colloquial)

	Singular	Plural
First person	fy hun	ein hun
Second person	dy hun	eich hun
Third person	ei hun m ei hun f	eu hun

Numeral

hun

1. h-prothesized form of un

   ei hun ei hun ― her own (one)

   (Compare: ei un ei hun ― his own (one))

Mutation

Mutated forms of un

radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
un	unchanged	unchanged	hun

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Etymology 2

From Proto-Brythonic *hʉn, from Proto-Celtic *sounos, from Proto-Indo-European *swépnos (“sleep”).

Noun

hun f (plural hunau, not mutable)

1. sleep

Derived terms

• anhun (“wakefulness”)
• di-hun (“awake”)
• hunllef (“nightmare”)
• huno (“to sleep”)

References

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “hun”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Yoruba

Etymology 1

Cognate with Yoruba sùn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hũ̀/

Verb

hùn

1. (Ikalẹ, Ilajẹ) to sleep

   Kítà é hùn. ― The dog is sleeping.

Derived terms

• àìhùn (“sleeplessness”)

Etymology 2

Obìnrin tó ń hun aṣọ náà rèé

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hũ̄/

Verb

hun

1. to weave

   Mo fẹ́ hun aṣọ òfì wọn, fún ayẹyẹ wọn, lọ́sẹ̀ tó ń bọ̀. ― I want to weave their clothes, for their celebration, this upcoming week

Derived terms

• ahunṣọ (“weaver”)

Yucatec Maya

Etymology

From Proto-Mayan *juun.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhun]

Numeral

hun

1. one

Derived terms

• hun bak
• hun kʼáal
• hun pik

 

References

• Beltrán de Santa Rosa María, Pedro (1746) Arte de el idioma maya reducido a succintas reglas, y semilexicon yucateco (in Spanish), Mexico: Por la Biuda de D. Joseph Bernardo de Hogal, page 152: “Hun. Vno. 1.”
• Montgomery, John (2004) Maya-English, English-Maya (Yucatec) Dictionary & Phrasebook, New York: Hippocrene Books, Inc., →ISBN, pages 58, 203