Rohingya
/ˈrəʊ(h)ɪndʒə
/ /ˈrəʊ(h)ɪŋjə /(also Rohinga)
noun (plural same or Rohingyas)
1A member of a Muslim people inhabiting western Burma (Myanmar): the UNHCR estimates 800,000 Rohingya live in Burma’s mountainous Rakhine state...
- Thousands of Rohingya immigrants from Myanmar live in Malaysia, where they first began arriving in large numbers in the early 1990s.
- Burmese Rohingya wait in a crowded room for malaria test results at special clinic for malaria on May 4, 2009 in Sittwe, Arakan state, Myanmar (Burma).
- There are also significant numbers of Chin, Kachin, Kayah (Karenni), Pao, Palaung, Lahu, Wa, and Rohingya.
2 [mass noun] The Indic language of the Rohingya: he asked me if I spoke Rohingya...
- Rohingya (Ruáingga) is the spoken language of Rohingya people which is similar to Chittagonian language spoken in the neighbouring Chittagong region of Bangladesh.
- They only speak Rohingya.
- In retrospect, perhaps I should have asked him to speak Rohingya. But what he said is more important than what language he spoke.
adjective
Relating to or denoting the Rohingya or their language: Rohingya communities Rohingya Muslims...
- Muslims living in the northernmost reaches of Rakhine State are generally called Rohingya regardless of their ancestry.
- This image at left is of a Rohingya mosque in Sittwe.
- Many of its recruits are thought to be members of the Rohingya community of Myanmar who, along with a few volunteers from Thailand, make up the bulk of its approximately 700 trained members.
Origin
Rohingya: self-designation, from the name of a former kingdom of Burma.