It is sparsely attested, and the extant material available on it comprises about 150 words, as well as what may be a two-line text transcribed using Chinese characters,[6] which the Xiongnu may have used themselves for writing their language.

[16] Vovin remarks that certain horse names in Xiongnu appear to be Turkic with Yeniseian prefixes.

Beckwith suggests that the name "Xiongnu" is cognate with the word "Scythian", or "Saka", or "Sogdian" (all referring to Central Iranian peoples).

[30] In 2005, As-Shahbazi suggested that there were originally a Hunnish people who had mixed with Iranian tribes in Transoxiana and Bactria, where they adopted the Kushan-Bactrian language.

Some scholars have suggested that the Huns originated from Mongolic or Turkic groups, making them possibly linguistically distinct from the Xiongnu people.

[35] In 53 BC, Huhanye (呼韓邪) decided to enter into tributary relations with Han China.

The political status of the Xiongnu in the Chinese world order was reduced from that of a "brotherly state" to that of an "outer vassal" (外臣).

[38] Another inscription that uses Chinese characters is located in the loyal tomb complex of the Xiongnu that spells out: [乘輿][...] [...] [...]年考工工賞造 嗇夫臣康掾臣安主右丞臣 [...] [...]令臣[...]護工卒史臣尊省, It translates: [Fit for use by the emperor] made in the [?]

[40] Several terms in animal husbandry, including names for different species of horses and camels that have uncertain foreign-originating etymologies, also had been suggested to have Xiongnu origins.

A Xiongnu deity named Jinglu (徑路) was depicted as a sword and the spelling is the same as the Chinese word for "path" or "way".

Except for the Yueban, also called the Weak Xiongnu, the rest of the tribes migrated to China and started their own settlements.