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athapascan

 - 5 dictionary results

Ath⋅a⋅bas⋅kan

  [ath-uh-bas-kuhn]
Use athapascan in a Sentence
–noun
1. a family of languages spoken by American Indians in most of inland northwest Canada and Alaska, in coastal Oregon and California, and in Arizona and the Rio Grande basin, and including esp. Navajo, Apache, and Chipewyan. Compare family (def. 14).
2. a member of any of various American Indian peoples speaking Athabaskan.
–adjective
3. belonging to or characteristic of the Athabaskans.
Also, Ath⋅a⋅bas⋅can, Athapaskan, Athapascan.

Origin:
1770–80; earlier Athapasca(s), introduced as a term for the Canadian Athabaskans (< Woods Cree ahδapaska⋅w Lake Athabaska, lit., there are reeds here and there < Proto-Algonquian *aʔlap(y)- net, reticulated + *-ašk- plant + derivational elements) + -an

Ath⋅a⋅pas⋅kan

  [ath-uh-pas-kuhn]
–noun, adjective
Athabaskan.
Also, Ath⋅a⋅pas⋅can.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To athapascan
Ath·a·bas·kan or Ath·a·bas·can   (āth'ə-bās'kən)   
n.  

  1. A group of related North American Indian languages including the Apachean languages and languages of Alaska, northwest Canada, and coastal Oregon and California.

  2. A member of an Athabaskan-speaking people.


[After Lake Athabasca from Cree athapaskaaw, there is scattered grass.]
Ath'a·bas'kan adj.
Ath·a·pas·can   (āth'ə-pās'kən)   
n.  Variant of Athabaskan.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Athapascan 
"pertaining to a N.Amer. Indian people," 1846, from Cree Athapaskaw, said by Webster to mean lit. "grass or reeds here and there."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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