hun

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

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Hungarian terms

• IPA^(key):/hʌn/

• Audio(Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes:-ʌn

Clipping ofhoney withpronunciation spelling.

hun (pluralhuns)

1. (informal)Alternative spelling ofhon(“affectionate abbreviation ofhoney”)
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-endhun”, inThe Telegraph‎^[1]:

     Answer: you are ahun – but a high-endhun, 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 ahun’”, ini‎^[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 amulti-level marketing scheme, especially one who pushes it onsocial media.
   • 2019 July 10, Jessica Lindsay, “Hunzoning is the trend that sees you going from friend to MLM recruit”, inMetro‎^[3]:

     This corporate love-bombing can serve ahun 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'”, inBusiness 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.

• hunzone

Short forHungarian partridge.

hun (pluralhuns)

1. Agrey partridge.

hun (pluralhuns)

1. Alternative form ofhoon(“Indian gold coin”)

• nuh,unh

• hund,hunn,hònn(Walser)
• Hund

FromMiddle High Germanhunt, fromOld High Germanhunt, fromProto-Germanic*hundaz. Cognate withGermanHund,Dutchhond,Englishhound,Icelandichundur.

hun m

1. (Formazza)dog

• 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

hun ?

1. sleep

Learned borrowing fromLate LatinHunni.

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

hun m (pluralhuns,femininehuna)

1. Hun

• húnnic

• “hun” inDiccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició,Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “hun”, inGran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana,Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana,2025
• “hun” inDiccionari normatiu valencià,Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

FromOld Norsehón(“she”), fromProto-Norse*ᚺᚨᚾᚢ(*hanu), the feminine form, with u-umlaut, of*ᚺᚨᚾᚨᛉ(*hanaʀ) (=Danishhan(“he”),Old Norsehann).

• IPA^(key):[hun]

hun (objective casehende,possessivehendes)

1. (personal)she

• “hun,2” inDen Danske Ordbog

hun c (singular definitehunnen,plural indefinitehunner)

1. female,she

• “hun,1” inDen Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key):/ɦʏn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation:hun
• Rhymes:-ʏn

Originally a mere spelling variant ofhen.^[1]

Possessivehun started replacinghaar from the 15th century, first only for masculine and neuter plural.

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

The difference betweenhen (as direct object) andhun (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 andhun 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 heefthun verraden. (“He has betrayedthem.”)
• Ze zijn methun uitgegaan. (“They have gone out withthem.”)
• Ik heb hethen gegeven. (“I have given itto them.”)

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

• Hij heeftze verraden.
• Ze zijn metze uitgegaan.
• Ik heb hetze gegeven.

For more information, seethe article in the Dutch Wikipedia.

hun (personal)(dependent possessive) (independent possessivehunne)

1. The third-person plural possessive pronoun:their

   Ken jehun broer?

   Do you knowtheir brother?

• zij,ze
• hen

Likely a replacement of or based on dialectal Dutchhullie or a variant thereof, which is a contraction ofhunlieden orhunlui, a compound ofhun ("them") +lieden orlui (both meaning "men, people"), which then translates roughly into "them-people". Possibly reinfluenced by or confused with the possessivehun. This etymology explains why usage ofhun occurs only when referring to people, never to objects. It's similar to dialectalzun often used colloquially in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which is a contraction ofze ("they") +hun ("them"), and which is also only used for people. Also compareAfrikaanshulle, which also stems fromhunlui, but is now used also for things. For more information, seethe article in the Dutch Wikipedia.

hun (personal)

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

   Synonyms:zijlui,zijlieden

• The use ofhun 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 orzijlieden can be used instead.

• IPA^(key):[ˈhun]
• Rhymes:-un

Borrowed fromLatinHunni.^[1][2]

hun (notcomparable)

1. Hunnic,Hunnish(of or relating to theHuns)

hun (pluralhunok)

1. Hun(a member of a nomadic tribe)

Fromhol.

hun

2. (dialectal)Alternative form ofhol(“where”).

• sehun(dialectal)

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

FromChinese園 (MC hjwon).

hun 

1. garden

CompareTolaivudu andPatpatarhudu.

hun

1. banana

• 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

hun (pluralhun-hun)

1. A unit ofweight equal to one hundredth of atahil.

hun (hun⁵ /hun⁰,Zhuyin˙ㄏㄨㄣ)

1. Nonstandard spelling ofhūn.
2. Nonstandard spelling ofhún.
3. Nonstandard spelling ofhǔn.
4. Nonstandard spelling ofhùn.

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

hun

1. Alternative form ofhund(“hundred”)

• IPA^(key):/hʉn/

hun

1. h-prothesized form ofun

hun

1. time

• hönj(Mooring)
• Hun(Sylt)

FromOld Frisianhond. Cognates includeWest Frisianhân.

hun f (pluralhunen)

1. (Föhr-Amrum)hand

   a rocht(er)hun ―the righthand

• One of the original feminines that still commonly take the reduced articlea (as above). Seeat for further information.

FromDanishhun, fromOld Norsehón.

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

hun (accusativehenne,genitivehennes)

1. she

• hunkjønn /hunnkjønn

• ho(Nynorsk)
• hoe(Nynorsk)

FromOld Norsehúnn(“a die”).

• hon

hun m (definite singularhunen,indefinite pluralhuner,definite pluralhunene)

1. backboard

• “hun” inThe Bokmål Dictionary.

FromOld Norsehúnn(“bear cub”),^[1] fromProto-Germanic*hūnaz.

hun m (definite singularhunen,indefinite pluralhunar,definite pluralhunane)

1. abearcub

   Synonym:bjørnunge

FromOld Norsehúnn(“die”).^[1]

• (since 2019)hon^[2]

hun m (definite singularhunen,indefinite pluralhunar,definite pluralhunane)

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

FromOld Norsehúnar,húnir pl.

hun m (definite singularhunen,indefinite pluralhunar,definite pluralhunane)

1. aHun(a member of anomadictribe fromCentral Asia)

   Synonym:hunar

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

FromOld Norsehón.

hun

1. she /it (feminine nominative pronoun)

• Danish:hun

Unclear. Possibly a shortening ofhund(“dog”) or fromOld Norsehunn(“bear cub”).

hun m

1. a common element in given names

• Elizabeth Okasha (2011)Women's Names in Old English, London, England: Routledge, page65

hun

1. Alternative form ofũu

hun

1. manuscript spelling ofHūn,nominativesingular ofHūni

Borrowed fromFrenchHuns, fromLatinHunni.

hun m (pluralhuni)

1. Hun

From*pun, fromProto-Malayo-Polynesian*puqun, compareMalaypohon.

hun

1. bottom,base
2. beginning
3. origin

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

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. Comparerún vs.rốn,thúi vs.thối.

hun• (㖧)

1. Central Vietnam andSouthern Vietnam form ofhôn(“to kiss”)

• 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.

• thơm,hôn,chu,chụt,mi

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

hun• (焝,熏,燻)

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

• nhu

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

Lexicalisedh-prothesised form ofun.

hun

1. (with possessive determiner)self

   Synonym:hunan

   fyhun ―myself

   eihun ―himself, herself

   einhun ―ourselves

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

   Synonym:hunan

   fy ngeiriau fyhun ―myown words

   ei syniad eihun ―his/herown idea

   ein cartref einhun ―ourown home

• Hun tends to be more common in the north and synonymoushunan in the south, although pluralhunain is also found in north at times.

hun

1. h-prothesized form ofun

   eihun ei hun ―her own (one)

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

FromProto-Brythonic*hʉn, fromProto-Celtic*sounos, fromProto-Indo-European*swépnos(“sleep”).

hun f (pluralhunau,not mutable)

1. sleep

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

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

Cognate withYorubasùn.

• IPA^(key):/hũ̀/

hùn

1. (Ikalẹ,Ilajẹ) tosleep

   Kítà éhùn. ―The dog issleeping.

• àìhùn(“sleeplessness”)

• IPA^(key):/hũ̄/

hun

1. toweave

   Mo fẹ́hun aṣọ òfì wọn, fún ayẹyẹ wọn, lọ́sẹ̀ tó ń bọ̀. ―I want toweave their clothes, for their celebration, this upcoming week

• ahunṣọ(“weaver”)

hun

1. Obsolete spelling ofjun.