athabascan

Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for athabascan.

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Editorial note

For one thing, Navajo are athabascans, as in they speak an Athabascan language.

Examples6

Definitions3

Parts of speech2

Quick take

Any member of these peoples.

Meaning at a glance

The clearest senses and uses of athabascan gathered in one view.

noun

Any member of these peoples.

noun

The family of languages spoken by these peoples.

adjective

Pertaining to a group of peoples mostly inhabiting Alaska, western Canada, the Pacific coast of California and Oregon, and the Navajo and Apache peoples in the American Southwest.

Definitions

Core meanings and parts of speech for athabascan.

noun

Any member of these peoples.

noun

The family of languages spoken by these peoples.

adjective

Pertaining to a group of peoples mostly inhabiting Alaska, western Canada, the Pacific coast of California and Oregon, and the Navajo and Apache peoples in the American Southwest.

Example sentences

For one thing, Navajo are athabascans, as in they speak an Athabascan language.

The Navajo are fairly recent arrivals to the American Southwest, they are Athabascan in origin and likely not far removed from East Asia.

The Navajo descend from the athabascan migrations.

As an example, Southern Athabascan speakers(e.g.

Similarly, the Navaho word for "corn" is nà:-dą: derived from two proto-Athabascan roots meaning "enemy" and "food", suggesting that the Navaho originally considered corn to be "food of the enemy" when they first arrived among the pueblo people.