Chechen
/ˈtʃɛtʃɛn
/noun (plural same or Chechens)
1A member of the largely Muslim people inhabiting Chechnya.The Ingush, closely related to the Chechens, are predominantly Muslim....
- Most were Uzbeks, but there were also Afghans, Chechens, Uighurs from China and a small number of Arabs.
- Others think they may be Chechens or Ingush - another Caucasus ethnic group - or even local men.
2 [mass noun] The North Caucasian language of the Chechen people.Until 1991, Chechnya had two official languages, Chechen and Russian.
adjective
Relating to the Chechen people or their language.The Chechen language is unique to the Caucasus region, and not related to any languages outside of this region....
- ‘There were these Chechen women who were sitting next to a couple of Russian sisters and their children, and they talked,’ he says.
- But the origins of the Chechen conflict lie not in Islamic militancy but in the 19th century Chechen struggle to resist absorption by the Russian empire.
Origin
From obsolete Russian chechen (earlier form of chechenets).