-nēən noun
( -s )
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: Ruthenia, a part of the Ukraine + English -an
1.
a. : one of a branch of the Little Russians formerly chiefly of Galicia in Austria and the eastern part of Czechoslovakia and recently annexed to the Ukrainian S.S.R. along with the Ruthenian-speaking parts of former southeastern Poland
b. : the Ukrainian language as used in Galicia
2. : a member of a former Eastern Orthodox body entering into communion with Rome at the end of the 16th century and becoming the Uniate Church of the Little Russians