Circassian

[ ser-kash-uhn, -ee-uhn ]

noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Circassia.
2. a group of North Caucasian languages, including Kabardian.
3. a literary language based on the western dialects of the Circassian group.

adjective

1. of or relating to Circassia, its inhabitants, often with respect to their legendary beauty, or their language.

Circassian

/ sɜːˈkæsɪən /

noun

1. a native of Circassia
2. a language or languages spoken in Circassia, belonging to the North-West Caucasian family See also Adygei Kabardian

adjective

1. relating to Circassia, its people, or language

Word History and Origins

Origin of Circassian¹

First recorded in 1545–55; from Medieval Latin or New Latin Circassi(a) + -an

Example Sentences

Women who came from the Slavic areas of the Ottoman Empire, which extended all the way into the Circassian mountains, in what is now Bulgaria, would be taken because of how they looked.

From Salon

But after violence broke out between the island’s Greek and Turkish communities, her ethnically Turkish, Circassian and Kurdish family fled to the U.K. when she was 5.

From Seattle Times

In the Caucasus, where Russia vied with the Ottoman and Persian empires for power, the Muslim Circassians, who had inhabited the area for millennia, resisted Russian domination.

From Salon

Circassians arrived as slaves, Levantine Arabs and Western Europeans as businesspeople.

From New York Times

It records the emancipation of an enslaved Circassian woman named Caterina by her owner.

From New York Times