kachina

[ kuh-chee-nuh ]

noun
  1. any of various ancestral spirits deified by the Hopi Indians and impersonated in religious rituals by masked dancers.

  2. a Hopi religious ritual at which such masked dancers perform.

  1. a masked dancer impersonating such a spirit at a Hopi religious ritual.

Origin of kachina

1
1885–90; <Hopi ḳacína<Keresan (Santa Ana) k̉â˙cina (or a cognate word)

Words Nearby kachina

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How to use kachina in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for kachina

kachina

/ (kəˈtʃiːnə) /


noun
  1. any of the supernatural beings believed by the Hopi Indians to be the ancestors of living humans

Origin of kachina

1
from Hopi qačina supernatural

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012