beduin

noun, plural Bed·u·ins, (especially collectively) Bed·u·in, adjective

1. Bedouin.

noun, plural Bed·ou·ins, (especially collectively) Bed·ou·in.

1. an Arab of the desert, in Asia or Africa; nomadic Arab.
2. a nomad; wanderer.

adjective

3. of, relating to, or characteristic of the Bedouin.

noun

1. plural -ins or -in a member of any of the nomadic tribes of Arabs inhabiting the deserts of Arabia, Jordan, and Syria, as well as parts of the Sahara
2. a wanderer or rover

adjective

3. of or relating to the Bedouins
4. wandering or roving

n.

c.1400, from Old French bedüin (Modern French bédouin), from colloquial Arabic badawin “desert-dwellers,” plural of badawi, from badw “desert, camp.” The Arabic plural suffix was mistaken for part of the word. A word from the Crusades, it probably was lost in English and then reborrowed from French c.1600. As an adjective from 1844.