Karen
/kəˈrɛn
/noun (plural same or Karens)
1A member of an indigenous people of eastern Burma (Myanmar) and western Thailand.Nearly 100,000 members of ethnic minority groups in Myanmar, mostly Karens, have fled to Thailand to escape the fighting in their country....
- Another important region for the Karens is the eastern border with Thailand.
- The same would apply, for instance, to the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the Karens of Burma, the people of Aceh in Indonesia and the Muslims of the Southern Philippines.
2 [mass noun] The language of the Karen, which probably belongs to the Sino-Tibetan family. Its highly distinct dialects have over 5 million speakers altogether.Other than Karen and Bai, Tibeto-Burman languages feature a Subject Object Verb order....
- Karen is a language cluster spoken in lower Myanmar, and in areas bordering Thailand
adjective
Relating to the Karen or their language.Most famously, the Htoo twins, pre-teen mystic leaders of a Karen group called God's Army, grabbed headlines in 2000 as the most unlikely of guerrilla generals....
- The camp, accounting for 16 acres, is temporary shelter to 8,200 refugees who belong to a Karen minority who have been fighting with the Myanmar government for a homeland for decades.
- And on Monday a group of 10 men belonging to God's Army, a Karen minority rebel group, broke into a hospital in the province.
Origin
From Arakanese (a language of Burma) karang.