The word barbarian is not used in the O.T., but is synonymous with such words as stranger, alien, sojourner, and gentile. In the N.T. it connotes peoples of the Mediterranean area who are not of the Graeco-Roman culture (Rom. 1: 14; Col. 3: 11), and/or those whose language is not familiar to the hearer, as in 1 Cor. 14: 11. See also Acts 28: 2.