n, -kwee-uh
n]
noun, plural -ans, (especially collectively
) -an for 2, adjective | 1. | a family of languages spoken now or formerly by American Indians in an area extending from Labrador westward to the Rocky Mountains, west-southwestward through Michigan and Illinois, and southwestward along the Atlantic coast to Cape Hatteras, including esp. Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Cree, Fox, Massachusett, Micmac, Ojibwa, and Powhatan. Compare family (def. 14). |
| 2. | a member of an Algonquian-speaking tribe. |
| 3. | of or pertaining to Algonquian or its speakers. |