Prussian

American  

[pruhsh-uhn] / ˈprʌʃ ən /

adjective

1. of or relating to Prussia or its inhabitants.

2. characterized by, exemplifying, or resembling Prussianism.

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noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Prussia.

2. (originally) one of a Lettic people formerly inhabiting territory along and near the coast at the southeastern corner of the Baltic Sea.

3. a Baltic language formerly spoken in Prussia; Old Prussian. Pruss

Prussian British  

/ ˈprʌʃən /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Prussia or its people, esp of the Junkers and their formal military tradition

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noun

1. a German native or inhabitant of Prussia

2. a member of a Baltic people formerly inhabiting the coastal area of the SE Baltic

3. See Old Prussian

Other Word Forms

• anti-Prussian adjective
• non-Prussian noun
• pro-Prussian adjective

Etymology

Origin of Prussian

First recorded in 1555–65; Prussi(a) + -an

Example Sentences

While conducting research in the Prussian state archives in Berlin in the 1990s, he chanced upon the details of a “small vortex of turbulence” in Königsberg.

From The Wall Street Journal

In 1814 Napoleon fought a battle at Arcis-sur-Aube against the invading Austrian, Prussian and Russian armies, and two years later German immigrants invited by the Russian government named their settlement Artsyz, after the battle.

From BBC

By 1908, Wilhelm’s attitude toward the U.S. was more benevolent, and he offered President Theodore Roosevelt an elite corps of Prussian soldiers to be posted in California, supposedly to fend off a Japanese invasion.

From Salon

I imagined a vitrine of the pigments used to achieve those “Gainsborough blues”—indigo, Prussian blue, ultramarine, azurite.

From The Wall Street Journal

Even Gast and O’Sullivan wouldn’t count as Heritage Americans by the strictest definition, since the former was Prussian and the latter was the son of Irish and English immigrants.

From Los Angeles Times