# European

Pronunciation: say "yuur-uh-PEE-uhn" US /ˌjʊɚ.əˈpi.ən/, UK /(ˌ)jʊə.ɹəˈpiː.ən/

## Adjective

1. Connected with Europe, its people, or its countries.
   - Simple: Coming from Europe, or connected with it or its people.
   - _The museum displays art from several European nations._
   - _European wildlife includes species found nowhere else in the world._
2. Relating to the European Union or matters concerning its member states.
   - Simple: Connected with the European Union and its member countries.
   - _European law takes precedence over the national laws of member states._
   - _European regulations apply directly in every member state without any new national law._
4. Especially in colonial and other official racial classifications: white; of white ethnicity or descent, wherever born.
   - Simple: In old colonial records and some official groupings, used to mean white, or having white ancestors.
   - _Under segregation, those classified as European used separate facilities._
   - _Under the colony's segregation laws, a white child born there was still classed as European, while Asian and African residents were listed in separate groups._

## Noun

3. A person who lives in Europe or comes from there; in European Union contexts, a citizen of an EU country.
   - Simple: A person from Europe or living there, or a citizen of a country in the European Union.
   - _Europeans have settled on every other continent over the centuries._
   - _As a European, she felt at home traveling across the region._
5. Someone who favors closer political and economic links among European countries, particularly by way of the European Union. *(UK)*
   - Simple: Someone who wants the countries of Europe to work closely together in politics and trade, especially through the European Union.
   - _As a committed European, the minister argued that Britain's future lay inside the single market._
   - _The Europeans on the back benches threatened to rebel over the treaty vote._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Of a financial option that can be exercised only on its expiration date, not beforehand.

## Origin

Ancient Greek Εὐρωπαῖος (Eurōpaîos, "European") is the ultimate source; it passed through Latin europaeus to French Européen, which English borrowed. On its face, the word is simply Europe plus the suffix -an.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/european (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).