यवन

Borrowed from Sanskrit यवन (yavana), from Ashokan Prakrit 𑀬𑁄𑀦 (yona), from Old Persian 𐎹𐎢𐎴 (y-u-n /⁠yauna⁠/), from Ancient Greek Ἴων (Íōn). Doublet of यूनान (yūnān).

• (Delhi Hindi) IPA^(key): /jə.ʋən/, [jɐ.ʋɐ̃n]

यवन • (yavan) m (feminine यवनी, Urdu spelling یون) (rare)

1. foreigner

   Synonyms: परदेसी (pardesī), विदेशी (videśī)

   1. a Greek

      Synonym: यूनानी (yūnānī)

   2. an Arab, a Muslim

      Synonym: अरब (arab)

   3. a European

      Synonym: यूरोपीय (yūropīya)

Borrowed from Ashokan Prakrit 𑀬𑁄𑀦 (yona), borrowed from Old Persian 𐎹𐎢𐎴 (y-u-n /⁠yauna⁠/), ultimately from Ancient Greek Ἴων (Íōn, “an Ionian”). See also म्लेच्छ (mleccha, “non-Aryan, barbarian”).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈjɐ.ʋɐ.n̪ɐ/

यवन • (yavana) stem, m

1. a foreigner, an outsider not part of the four-tiers of varna
   1. a Greek, Ionian

      यवनेश्वर ― yavaneśvara ― king of the Greeks

      • c. 400 BCE, Mahābhārata
      • c. 200 BCE – 200 CE, Manusmṛti
      • c. 150 CE, Yavanajātaka :

        यवनजातक

        yavanajātaka

        nativity according to the Greeks

   2. Bactrian
   3. Scythians
      • c. 500 BCE – 100 BCE, Rāmāyaṇa 1.54.20b, 21a:

        विश्वामित्र अर्दितान् दृष्ट्वा पह्लवान् शतशः तदा ॥
        भूय एव असृजत् घोरान् शकान् यवन मिश्रितान् ।

        viśvāmitra arditān dṛṣṭvā pahlavān śataśaḥ tadā.
        bhūya eva asṛjat ghorān śakān yavana miśritān.

        • 2002 translation by Desiraju Hanumanta Rao

          On seeing the subdual of hundreds of Pahlava-s by Vishvamitra, then the Sacred Cow again generated deadly Shaka-s hobnobbed with Yavana-s through her mooing 'hums'.

   4. Arab, Muslim
   5. (Late Sanskrit) a European

• → Bengali: যবন (jobon)
• → Hindi: यवन (yavan)
• → Tamil: யவனர் (yavaṉar)
• → Middle Chinese: 耶槃那 (MC yae ban na)
• → Thai: ยวน (yuuan)
  • → Burmese: ယွန်း (ywan:)
• → Urdu: یون (yavan)

• Monier Williams (1899) “यवन”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 848.