Indian

en-adj

Indian (comparative more Indian, superlative most Indian)

more Indian (comparative)
most Indian (superlative)

From Anglo-Norman indien, Middle French indien, corresponding to Ind + -ian or India + -an. Applied to inhabitants of the Americas due to an early misconception that the Americas were the eastern end of Asia / the Indies (hence also the designation of Caribbean islands as the West Indies).

Indian bread

Indian meal

(Canada, US, of foods) Made with Indian corn or maize.

East Indian

of, or related to, the people of the Indian subcontinent

West Indian

of, or related to, the people of the Caribbean islands


Indian

en-noun

Indian (countable and uncountable, plural Indians)

We stigmatize the Indians, also, as cowardly and treacherous, because they use stratagem in warfare in preference to open force; but in this they are fully justified by their rude code of honor.

1820 July, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Traits of Indian Character”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC:

High Jack had been drinking too much rum ever since we landed in Boca. You know how an Indian is—the palefaces fixed his clock when they introduced him to firewater.

1909, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “He Also Serves”, in Options:

With savage desperation the Indian lunged his horse straight at Hopalong and, knife in hand, leaped for him!

1951, Louis L'Amour, Rustlers of West Fork:

(countable) An American Indian, a member of one of the indigenous peoples of the Americas (generally excluding the Aleut, Inuit, Metis, and Yupik).

Indiaan

individual of, or related to, the aboriginal people of the Americas

Mardi Gras Indian
Mardi Gras Indian#English

(countable) Ellipsis of Mardi Gras Indian.


Indian

(nonstandard) Any of the (unrelated) languages spoken by American Indians.


band

⇒ Guyanese Creole English: bando

→ Japanese: バンド (bando)

→ Korean: 밴드 (baendeu)

Inherited from Middle English band (also bond), from Old English beand, bænd, bend (“bond, chain, fetter, band, ribbon, ornament, chaplet, crown”), from Proto-Germanic *bandą, *bandiz (“band, fetter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to tie, bind”). Middle English band reinforced by Old French bande. Cognate with Dutch band, German Band, Danish bånd, Swedish band, Icelandic band (“band”). Related to bond, bind, bend.

inh

valence band;  conduction band

(physics) A group of energy levels in a solid state material.


buck

From Middle English bukke, bucke, buc, from Old English buc, bucc, bucca (“he-goat, stag”), from Proto-West Germanic *bukk, *bukkō, from Proto-Germanic *bukkaz, *bukkô (“buck”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ- (“ram”). Doublet of puck (billy goat).
Currency-related senses hail from American English, a clipping of buckskin as a unit of trade among Indians and Europeans in frontier days (attested from 1748).
The idea of rigidly standing implements is instilled by Dutch bok (“sawhorse”) as in zaagbok (“sawbuck”).
The sense of an object indicating someone’s turn then occurred in American English, possibly originating from the game poker, where a knife (typically with a hilt made from a stag horn) was used as a place-marker to signify whose turn it was to deal. The place-marker was commonly referred to as a buck, which reinforced the term “pass the buck” used in poker, and eventually a silver dollar was used in place of a knife, which also led to a dollar being referred to as a buck.

But this buck claimed he was a big war chief with the Nawyecky Comanches.

1956, Frank S. Nugent, Alan Le May, The Searchers, spoken by Futterman:

She got so she’d rather have a buck nigger than me!

Her curly red hair loose from its combs hangin' down her back and her freckled skin bare, and a big ole nigger buck was doin' things to her! He'd always known that Hootch Carter raped and killed Becky Nell, never had reason to doubt it.

2009, Carol C. Morgan, Wind in the Cotton Fields, page 460:

(US, dated, derogatory) A black or Native American man.


Amerindian

/ˌæməˈɹɪndɪən/

/ˌæməɹˈɪndiən/

Blend of American + Indian, attested since about 1900.


hogan

Borrowed from Navajo hooghan (“dwelling, house”).

The wives of warriors were under strict instructions not to leave their hogans until the men had returned, hopefully successful, from their martial adventures abroad […].

2006, Hampton Sides, Blood and Thunder, Abacus, published 2014, page 27:

A one-room Native American (especially Navajo) dwelling or lodge, constructed of wood and earth and covered with mud.

wetu

used by the Wampanoag in the northeastern United States

wickiup

used in the southwestern and western United States


pueblo

From Spanish pueblo. Doublet of people and peuple.


squaw

From Massachusett squàw (“woman”), from Proto-Algonquian *eθkwe·wa (“(young) woman”). Cognate with Abenaki -skwa (“female, wife”), Mohegan-Pequot sqá, Cree iskwew / ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ (iskeyw, “woman”), Ojibwe ikwe (“woman”). In the 1970s, some non-linguists began to claim that the word originally meant "vagina"; this has been discredited.
The first recorded version of the word was found in a book called Mourt’s Relation: A Journey of the Pilgrims at Plymouth written in 1622. The term was not used in a derogatory fashion but spoke of the “squa sachim or Massachusets Queen” in the September 20, 1621 journal entry.

der

(now offensive, ethnic slur) A woman, wife; especially a Native American woman.

en:Native American name controversy#Controversial terminology

индианка

a woman, wife; especially a Native American woman

mulher índia (especialmente norte americana)


Native American

en-noun

Native American (plural Native Americans)

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contiguous United States
contiguous United States

An Indigenous person of the contiguous United States.

His name, as given on the records, was Joe Slater, or Slaader, and his appearance was that of the typical denizen of the Catskill Mountain region; one of those strange, repellent scions of a primitive colonial peasant stock whose isolation for nearly three centuries in the hilly fastnesses of a little-travelled countryside has caused them to sink to a kind of barbaric degeneracy, […] their general mental status is probably below that of any other section of the native American people.

1919, H. P. Lovecraft, Beyond the Wall of Sleep:

(dated) A resident of the United States who is not an immigrant. (Often uncapitalized: native American.)


Native American

en-adj

Native American (comparative more Native American, superlative most Native American)

more Native American (comparative)
most Native American (superlative)


Amerind

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Blend of American + Indian or possibly blend of American + indigenous. First appears c. 1899 in the publication American Anthropologist.

The cultural hiatus associated with the Pine Pollen Zone suggests that Amerinds may have avoided the area.


Amerind

(linguistics, obsolete) Of or relating to a hypothetical higher-level language family including all of the indigenous languages of the Americas, excluding those that belong to Eskimo-Aleut or Na-Dene.


wigwam

Borrowed from Abenaki wigwôm (“house”) or Penobscot wigwom (“house”), from Proto-Algonquian *wi·kiwa·ʔmi (“house”). Doublet of wickiup.

A dwelling having an arched framework overlaid with bark, hides, or mats, used by Native Americans in the northeastern United States.


wigwam

wigwam (nominative singular)
wigwamy (nominative plural)
wigwamu (genitive singular)
wigwamów (genitive plural)
wigwamowi (dative singular)
wigwamom (dative plural)
wigwam (accusative singular)
wigwamy (accusative plural)
wigwamem (instrumental singular)
wigwamami (instrumental plural)
wigwamie (locative singular)
wigwamach (locative plural)
wigwamie (singular vocative)
wigwamy (plural vocative)

Borrowed from English wigwam, from Abenaki wigwôm or Penobscot wigwom, from Proto-Algonquian *wi·kiwa·ʔmi.


papoose

Borrowed from Narragansett papoos (“a child”).

[…] a half-breed what they nicknamed "Splinters" 'cos of the way he fixed up her papoose which he stole on a raid […]

They say he has Indian blood in him. They say he has an Indian wife somewhere, and a lot of papooses. Cherokee.

In the empty Houston streets of four o’clock in the morning a motorcycle kid suddenly roared through, all bespangled and bedecked with glittering buttons, visor, slick black jacket, a Texas poet of the night, girl gripped on his back like a papoose, […]

1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 8, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 2:

(US, dated, offensive) A Native American baby.


redskin

From red + skin.
References to indigenous Americans' skin being red can be found from the 1580s, although not consistently (another European in 1584 described indigenous Americans as "yellowish"); in some cases the reference may be not to their skin color per se but to their painting themselves with red paint. A letter ostensibly from 1699, which was formerly cited as the earliest reference to "red skins", was not published until 1900 and is now recognized as fake.
The earliest documented instance of the term "redskin" is from a 1769 discussion between the Piankeshaw and John Wilkins, this and other early uses appear to be translating terms meaning red + skin, flesh, or people that the tribes of the Illinois / Mississippi Valley area used to refer to themselves when communicating with the French (who translated such terms as French peau-rouge) and with English-speakers (whence redskin).
Piecewise doublet of Rauðskinna.

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(ethnic slur, offensive) A Native American.


wickiup

wickiups (plural)
wakiup (alternative)
wikiup (alternative)

Wickiup-like structures were built by many Native American peoples throughout the Southwestern United States, and terms similar to wickiup are present "among Native Americans in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, and California", but the source of the word appears to be Fox wîkiyâpi (“house”). Alternatively, it may be a variant of wikiwam (“wigwam”). Either way, its ultimate origin is the Proto-Algonquian root *wi·kiwa·ʔmi (“house”). Doublet of wigwam.

They say his real name is Cimarron Seven, of the Choctaw Indian family of Sevens; he was raised in a tepee; a wickiup had been his bedroom, a blanket his robe.

At that time there were still indians camped on the western plains and late in the day he passed in his riding a scattered group of their wickiups propped upon that scoured and trembling waste.

1992, Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses:

A domed hut, similar to a wigwam, used by some semi-nomadic Native American tribes, particularly in the southwestern and western United States.

hogan

used by the Navajo in the southwestern United States


American Indian

en-noun

American Indian (plural American Indians)

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American + Indian. The noun is attested since 1702, the adjective since shortly thereafter.

A member of some indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially the continental United States, but excluding the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleuts.

(Canada) An indigenous person from the United States.


American Indian

en-adj

American Indian (comparative more American Indian, superlative most American Indian)

more American Indian (comparative)
most American Indian (superlative)

Relating to the indigenous peoples of the Americas or their languages.

Indian-American

U.S. citizens of South Asian extraction from India


indien

fr-adj

indien (feminine indienne, masculine plural indiens, feminine plural indiennes)

indienne (feminine)
indiens (masculine plural)
indiennes (feminine plural)


indien

fr-noun

indien m (plural indiens, feminine indienne)


rez

2016, Kalina Newmark, Nacole Walker, James Stanford, ‘The rez accent knows no borders’: Native American ethnic identity expressed through English prosody, Cambridge University Press, Published online.

(US, slang) Clipping of reservation (“tract of land set apart for native people”).


tipi

Borrowed from English teepee, from Lakota thípi.


teepee

teepees (plural)
tepee (alternative)
tipi (alternative)

From the Lakota word thípi (/ˈtʰipi/), which consists of two elements: the verb thí (“to dwell”), and pi, a pluralising enclitic (a suffix-like ending that marks the subject of the verb as plural), which means "they dwell". Lakota verbs can be used as nouns and this is the case with thípi, which in practice just means "house".

A cone-shaped tent traditionally used by many native peoples of the Great Plains of North America.


peace pipe

to smoke the peace pipe

A tobacco pipe smoked ceremonially in certain Native American cultures that symbolizes peace among those who smoke it, and among whom it is passed around from person to person.


powwow

powwows (plural)
pow wow (alternative)
pow-wow (alternative)
pau wau (alternative)

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From an Eastern Algonquian language, probably Massachusett pauwau (“he uses divination; he practices magic or sorcery”) or Narragansett powwáw (“sorcerer, shaman”), ultimately from Proto-Algonquian *pawe·wa (“one who dreams”).

der

A ritual conducted by a Native American shaman.

A Native American shaman. [from 17th c.]

rada plemienna (Indian północnoamerykańskich)

On the way out, Octavio handed me a flyer for the powwow that listed the prize money in each dance category.

2018, Tommy Orange, There There, Harvill Secker, page 24:

(Canada, US) A large gathering during which Indigenous songs and dances are showcased for an audience, essentially a recital or concert. Often also doubles as a fundraiser, or can be held in conjunction with a non-indigenous fair or exhibition in order to attract a large crowd, as at the Calgary Stampede and K-Days.


Aboriginal American

en-adj

Aboriginal American (comparative more Aboriginal American, superlative most Aboriginal American)

more Aboriginal American (comparative)
most Aboriginal American (superlative)

Of the original settlers of North America.


Indianer

de-noun

Indianer m (strong, genitive Indianers, plural Indianer, feminine Indianerin)

Indianers (genitive)
Indianer (plural)
Indianerin (feminine)
Indianer (nominative singular)
Indianer (definite nominative plural)
Indianers (genitive singular)
Indianer (definite genitive plural)
Indianer (dative singular)
Indianern (dative definite plural)
Indianer (accusative singular)
Indianer (accusative definite plural)

Indian, American Indian, Native American


First Nations

Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada

From an attributive use of the noun First Nations.

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of or pertaining to a First Nation or First Nations collectively

ensimmäisten kansojen (genitive of noun)

Among the 1692 Australian species and subspecies on the BirdLife Australia Working List V3 (excluding vagrant and introduced taxa[…]), 18.7% derive from unrelated entities (e.g. shrike-tit that is neither shrike nor tit). Just 82 reflect First Nations names for birds (1.6%) or places (3.3%).

2022, Stephen T. Garnett, Golo Maurer, Georgia E. Garrard, “Why Australian Common Bird Names should Respond to Societal Change”, in Emu: Austral Ornithology, volume 122, number 2, [Melbourne, Vic.]: Taylor & Francis for BirdLife Australia, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 150:

Torres Strait Islander
Torres Strait Islander

Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australian#Adjective

Of or pertaining to a First Nation or First Nations collectively.

(by extension, less common) Of or pertaining to the indigenous peoples of any country or region.

(Australia) Of or pertaining to the indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) peoples of Australia; Indigenous Australian.


First Nation

From first (adjective) + nation, coined in the late 1970s in place of the word Indian which had become regarded by some as derogatory (though it is still used: see the usage note).

alkuperäiskansa

community or settlement of indigenous peoples of any country or region — see also indigene, native

Today we speak as the descendants of our grandfathers who signed treaties with the Commissioners representing Her Majesty Queen Victoria in the late 1800s. […] The various governments of this country have made attempts to abrogate our treaties in one way or another. In spite of this, our treaties stand stronger than ever because we have had to rise as First Nations to defend them.

1980 December 18, Eugene Steinhauer, President of the Indian Association of Alberta, witness, Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence of the Special Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons on the Constitution of Canada: Respecting the Document Entitled “Proposed Resolution for a Joint Address to Her Majesty the Queen Respecting the Constitution of Canada” Published by the Government on October 2, 1980 (First Session of the Thirty-second Parliament), number 29, [Ottawa, Ont.]: Queen’s Printer for Canada, archived from the original on 2024-08-04, page 101, column 1:

The Campbell River First Nation claims the 40 hectares of prime real estate has been illegally acquired, and it wants the land returned to it, along with damages.

2008 April 4, “Band sues for waterfront property”, in Edmonton Sun, Edmonton, Alta.: Sun Media Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC:

The prolonged sufferings and ghastly deaths of Jesuit missionaries at the hands of hostile First Nations on the borders of the French colonies in Canada in the early seventeenth century rank high in the history of Christian suffering.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, “A Worldwide Faith (1500–1800)”, in A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years, London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books, →ISBN, part VI (Western Christianity Dismembered (1300–1800)), page 714:

(Canada) A community of indigenous peoples of Canada (typically not including the Inuit or Metis), especially one officially recognized by the federal government.

Primere Nacion

community of indigenous peoples of Canada (typically not including the Inuit or Metis) — see also Indian

Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australian#Noun

(by extension, less common) A community or settlement of indigenous peoples of any country or region.

(Australia) A community of indigenous (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) peoples of Australia; a group of Indigenous Australians.

alkuperäiskansa

community of indigenous peoples of Australia — see also Indigenous Australian


First Nation

First Nation leaders in Ontario will support demonstrations and protests, until six band councillors are released from jail.

2008 April 4, “Ontario Chiefs unite against jailing”, in Kenora Daily Miner and News, Kenora, Ont.: The Klein Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:


pow-wow

en-verb

pow-wow (third-person singular simple present pow-wows, present participle pow-wowing, simple past and past participle pow-wowed)

pow-wows (present singular third-person)
pow-wowing (participle present)
pow-wowed (participle past)
pow-wowed (past)


Amérindien

fr-noun

Amérindien m (plural Amérindiens, feminine Amérindienne)

Amérindiens (plural)
Amérindienne (feminine)


Indianin

pl-noun

Indianin m pers (female equivalent Indianka)

Indianka (feminine)
Indianin (nominative singular)
Indianie (nominative plural)
Indianina (genitive singular)
Indian (genitive plural)
Indianinowi (dative singular)
Indianom (dative plural)
Indianina (accusative singular)
Indian (accusative plural)
Indianinem (instrumental singular)
Indianami (instrumental plural)
Indianinie (locative singular)
Indianach (locative plural)
Indianinie (singular vocative)
Indianie (plural vocative)

Indian, Native American (member of one of the indigenous peoples of the Americas)


индеец

ru-noun+

инде́ец • (indéjec) m anim (genitive инде́йца, nominative plural инде́йцы, genitive plural инде́йцев, feminine индиа́нка)

инде́ец (canonical)
indéjec (romanization)
инде́йца (genitive)
инде́йцы (nominative plural)
инде́йцев (genitive plural)
индиа́нка (feminine)
инде́ец (nominative singular)
инде́йцы (nominative plural)
инде́йца (genitive singular)
инде́йцев (genitive plural)
инде́йцу (dative singular)
инде́йцам (dative plural)
инде́йца (accusative singular)
инде́йцев (accusative plural)
инде́йцем (instrumental singular)
инде́йцами (instrumental plural)
инде́йце (prepositional singular)
инде́йцах (plural prepositional)

→ Uzbek: indeys

From English Indian. Applied to inhabitants of the Americas due to an early misconception that the Americas were the eastern end of Asia / the Indies.


индеец

indeyets (romanization)
индеец (nominative singular)
индеецлар (nominative plural)
индеецның (genitive singular)
индеецларның (genitive plural)
индеецны (accusative definite singular)
индеецларны (accusative definite plural)
индеецка (dative singular)
индеецларга (dative plural)
индеецта (locative singular)
индеецларда (locative plural)
индеецтан (ablative singular)
индеецлардан (ablative plural)
индеецым (first-person nominative possessive singular)
индеецларым (first-person nominative possessive singular)
индеецың (nominative possessive second-person singular)
индеецларың (nominative possessive second-person singular)
индеецы (nominative possessive singular third-person)
индеецлары (nominative possessive singular third-person)
индеецыбыз (first-person nominative plural possessive)
индеецларыбыз (first-person nominative plural possessive)
индеецыгыз (nominative plural possessive second-person)
индеецларыгыз (nominative plural possessive second-person)
индеецы (nominative plural possessive third-person)
индеецлары (nominative plural possessive third-person)
индеецымның (first-person genitive possessive singular)
индеецларымның (first-person genitive possessive singular)
индеецыңның (genitive possessive second-person singular)
индеецларыңның (genitive possessive second-person singular)
индеецының (genitive possessive singular third-person)
индеецларының (genitive possessive singular third-person)
индеецыбызның (first-person genitive plural possessive)
индеецларыбызның (first-person genitive plural possessive)
индеецыгызның (genitive plural possessive second-person)
индеецларыгызның (genitive plural possessive second-person)
индеецының (genitive plural possessive third-person)
индеецларының (genitive plural possessive third-person)
индеецымны (accusative definite first-person possessive singular)
индеецларымны (accusative definite first-person possessive singular)
индеецыңны (accusative definite possessive second-person singular)
индеецларыңны (accusative definite possessive second-person singular)
индеецын (accusative definite possessive singular third-person)
индеецларын (accusative definite possessive singular third-person)
индеецыбызны (accusative definite first-person plural possessive)
индеецларыбызны (accusative definite first-person plural possessive)
индеецыгызны (accusative definite plural possessive second-person)
индеецларыгызны (accusative definite plural possessive second-person)
индеецын (accusative definite plural possessive third-person)
индеецларын (accusative definite plural possessive third-person)
индеецымга (dative first-person possessive singular)
индеецларымга (dative first-person possessive singular)
индеецыңга (dative possessive second-person singular)
индеецларыңга (dative possessive second-person singular)
индеецына (dative possessive singular third-person)
индеецларына (dative possessive singular third-person)
индеецыбызга (dative first-person plural possessive)
индеецларыбызга (dative first-person plural possessive)
индеецыгызга (dative plural possessive second-person)
индеецларыгызга (dative plural possessive second-person)
индеецына (dative plural possessive third-person)
индеецларына (dative plural possessive third-person)
индеецымда (first-person locative possessive singular)
индеецларымда (first-person locative possessive singular)
индеецыңда (locative possessive second-person singular)
индеецларыңда (locative possessive second-person singular)
индеецында (locative possessive singular third-person)
индеецларында (locative possessive singular third-person)
индеецыбызда (first-person locative plural possessive)
индеецларыбызда (first-person locative plural possessive)
индеецыгызда (locative plural possessive second-person)
индеецларыгызда (locative plural possessive second-person)
индеецында (locative plural possessive third-person)
индеецларында (locative plural possessive third-person)
индеецымнан (ablative first-person possessive singular)
индеецларымнан (ablative first-person possessive singular)
индеецыңнан (ablative possessive second-person singular)
индеецларыңнан (ablative possessive second-person singular)
индеецыннан (ablative possessive singular third-person)
индеецларыннан (ablative possessive singular third-person)
индеецыбыздан (ablative first-person plural possessive)
индеецларыбыздан (ablative first-person plural possessive)
индеецыгыздан (ablative plural possessive second-person)
индеецларыгыздан (ablative plural possessive second-person)
индеецыннан (ablative plural possessive third-person)
индеецларыннан (ablative plural possessive third-person)

Unadapted borrowing from Russian индеец (indejec), from English Indian.

unadapted borrowing

At night, when the fire died out, they lay in their warm beds of buffalo robes and slept just as well as you do in your warm home.

1939, Dƶems Şul'ts, translated by K. Basьjrof, Indejs malajь Sinopa, Qazan: Tatgosizdat, translation of Sinopah, the Indian Boy by James Willard Schultz, page 6:

Tönnä, wigwamdağı ut süngäç, indeyetslar, yomşaq, cılı tirelärgä törenep, tatlı yoqığa kitä torgan bulgannar.


count coup

en-verb

count coup (third-person singular simple present counts coup, present participle counting coup, simple past and past participle counted coup)

counts coup (present singular third-person)
counting coup (participle present)
counted coup (participle past)
counted coup (past)

count + coup (“quick, brilliant, and highly successful act”) (from French coup (“blow, hit, strike”), ultimately from Ancient Greek κόλᾰφος (kólăphos, “a buffet, a blow”)).

der

dǐ ki, v. t., to strike, to whip, to "count coup."

[1873, Washington Matthews, “dǐ ki”, in Grammar and Dictionary of the Language of the Hidatsa (Minnetarees, Grosventres of the Missouri). With an Introductory Sketch of the Tribe (Shea’s Library of American Linguistics; ser. 2, no. 1), New York, N.Y.: Cramoisy Press, →OCLC, page 80, column 1:

Sitting Bull, on horseback, with his brother behind him, counts "coup" on the soldier, and adds a new feather to his war bonnet and variety to the color of his legging fringes.

1876 July 29, Porte Crayon [pseudonym; David Hunter Strother], “Sitting Bull.—Autobiography of the Famous Sioux Chief.”, in Harper’s Weekly. A Journal of Civilization, volume XX, number 1022 (supplement), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 627, column 2:

No Sioux may wear an eagle's tail-feather unless he has counted a coup, or stroke, upon an enemy, dead or alive.

1915, Charles A[lexander] Eastman (Ohiyesa), “The Language of Feathers and Ceremonial Dress”, in Indian Scout Talks: A Guide for Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, →OCLC, pages 127–128:

A small band of Indians had ridden onto this irresistible opportunity and had counted coup with the whites' own unguarded guns.

1954, David Lavender, Bent’s Fort: A Historical Account of the Adobe Empire that Shaped the Destiny of the American Southwest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, →OCLC; Bent’s Fort, Bison Book edition, Lincoln, Neb., London: University of Nebraska Press, March 1972, →ISBN, page 90:

Only a damn fool counts coup on a kill he ain't sure of. That hombre could have us under his gun this very minute.

1994, Ralph Compton, “Prologue”, in The Shawnee Trail (The Trail Drive Series; 6), New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 2:

I told him what I had done, how I had counted coup in a Pottawattomie, and he shook hands and said that he too had counted coup and that he was going to wear a head ornament.

1999, Sam Blowsnake, “I Take a Trip to Nebraska”, in Paul Radin, editor, Crashing Thunder: The Autobiography of an American Indian, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 153:

To count coup a warrior had to strike an armed and fighting enemy with his coup-stick, quirt, or bow before otherwise harming him, or take his weapons while he was yet alive, or strike the first enemy falling in battle, no matter who killed him, […] [I]f a warrior was wounded in counting coup, the feather he wore to mark the event must be painted red to show that he bled.

2002, Frank B[ird] Linderman, chapter 3, in Plenty-coups: Chief of the Crows, new edition, Lincoln, Neb., London: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 31:

To a Plains Indian warrior "to count coup" meant, literally, "to touch the enemy." To count coup, a warrior might kill an enemy, injure him, struggle with him, or merely touch him.

2006, Joseph Medicine Crow, Herman Viola, Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Children's Books, →ISBN, page 21:

In this sham battle, Crow men pretend to count coup on their old enemies, the Piegan.

2012, Lillian Bullshows Hogan, Barbara Loeb, Mardell Hogan Plainfeather, “Memories of Youth”, in The Woman Who Loved Mankind: The Life of a Twentieth-Century Crow Elder, Lincoln, Neb., London: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 120:

The belief that a warrior could obtain some of the soul of his enemy, as well as some of his strength, courage, and energy, motivated warriors to count coup whenever the opportunity arose.

2012, GaWaNi Pony Boy, “Horse and Native American: The Relationship Begins”, in Ruth Berman, editor, Out of the Saddle: Native American Horsemanship, Irvine, Calif.: BowTie Press, →ISBN, page 28:

(intransitive, US, historical) To win prestige in battle by performing an act of bravery in the face of the enemy (such as touching him and escaping unharmed), a ritual of the Plains Indians of North America.


wetu

Wetus ranged in size between about 10 to 15 feet in diameter. As many as ten people lived inside.

2001, Donald M. Silver, Patricia J. Wynne, The Pilgrims, the Mayflower & more; grades 1-3, page 17:

To make a wetu, the Wampanoag set poles made from cedar saplings into the ground. They bent the poles over and covered them with cattail reeds or bark. A wetu was either circular or oval. Most wetu were about 20 to 30 feet (6 to 9 meters) […]

2003, Janet Riehecky, The Wampanoag: The People of the First Light, page 13:

Wetus were commonly about 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and 14 to 20 feet (4.3 to 6.1 m) long. Sometimes three or four families shared a single house. These wetus could be up to 100 feet (30.4 m) long and 30 feet (9.1 m) wide.

2005, Janey Levy, The Wampanoag of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, page 22:

In one corner of the village a man is emerging from a sweat-house; in the village's center a child sleeps in a wetu while a little boy on the roof hides from his dog, their only domesticated animal. A woman in mourning speaks to the sachem.

2008, Frances H. Kennedy, American Indian Places: A Historical Guidebook, page 31:

(US) A dwelling, a domed hut similar to a wigwam, used by some Native Americans in the northeastern United States, especially the Wampanoag.


First People

A First Nation; an indigenous North American people.


sipapu

A small hole or indentation in the floor of a kiva, symbolizing the portal through which the ancient ancestors emerged into the world.


red man

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-red man.wav

In reference to Native Americans, generally accepted to have originated as a reference to their skin color; see redskin for more.

The Sacred Circles show was heavily into myth, especially the current myth of the Red Man as mystic.

1977, Angela Carter, “That Arizona Home”, in Shaking a Leg, Vintage, published 2013, page 337:

(ethnic slur, offensive) An American Indian; a Native American.


CIB

CIB (disambiguation)
Cosmic infrared background

certificate of Indian blood
certificate of Indian blood#English

Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood
Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood

(US) Initialism of certificate of Indian blood, a document signifying Native American ancestry, also known as a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood.


Turtle Island

From turtle + island, based on the role of a turtle's back acting as the base for the world while being surrounded by water in the creation stories of multiple tribes of the Northeastern Woodlands region of North America as well as Algonquian- and Iroquoian-speaking peoples. Specific groups with such myths include the Lenape people, the Haudenosaunee, the Ojibwe people, and the Cree.

Turtle Island (Native American folklore)

If dispossession has defined recent centuries of Turtle Island history, then this fact has been well accommodated in official U.S. discourse.

1992, Gordon Brotherston, Book of the Fourth World: Reading the Native Americas Through Their Literature, CUP Archive, →ISBN, page 174:

Native peoples see the continent as Turtle Island (a concept brought to a wider audience by ecospirit poetry of Gary Snyder). The continental Turtle can be seen in two ways, with its head either to the north or south.

1999, Peter William Champoux, William Stuart Buehler, Gaia Matrix: Arkhom and the Geometries of Destiny in the North American Landscape, Gaia Matrix, →ISBN, page 62:

Tears had flowed with the tide of settlers all the way to the western shores of Turtle Island. When Chief Seattle signed the 1855 Port Elliott Treaty, surrendering his lands to the Washington governor,[…]

2003, Sheila Seclearr, A Tree on Turtle Island, PageFree Publishing, Inc., →ISBN, page 250:

For me, Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars' Club represents a coming together of the concerns of my published work as a scholar and my personal journey home to learn from my elders.

2012, Christopher B. Teuton, Cherokee Stories of the Turtle Island Liars’ Club, UNC Press Books, →ISBN, page 3:


hair pipe

hair pipes (plural)
hair-pipe (alternative)
hairpipe (alternative)

Obscure, possibly from hair + pipe, as a description of one of its uses. Earliest known usage from 1767.

Wampum, Weoka / “ hair pipes, Waebosndata

1850, Caleb Atwater, “Rudiments of the Grammar of the Sioux Language”, in The Indians of the Northwest: Their Maners, Customs, &c. &c,, Columbus, →OCLC, page 168:

About 1850 he, in connection with his brother James, invented a machine for drilling wampum hair-pipe, which is manufactured from conch-shells and clam-shells.

1882, “XXIV: The Bench and Bar of Bergen County”, in W. Woodford Clayton, William Nelson, editors, History of Bergen and Passaic Counties, Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, page 107:

The Kiowas used brass earrings, from each of which was suspended a hair pipe, which in turn supported a brass chain with a German-silver ornament at the end.

1977, Ronald P. Koch, “5: Native Ornaments”, in Dress Clothing of the Plains Indians, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 41:

Straight dancers wear ribbon shirts with bandoliers made of bone hair pipes and beads, generally from one to four strands wide, […]

2012, “Powwow Dance”, in Elizabeth DeLaney Hoffman, editor, American Indians and Popular Culture, volume 1, Preager, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 299:

A type of long, cylindrical bead from North America used in the creation of personal adornments, principally by Native Americans.


jossakeed

jossakeeds (plural)
josakeed (alternative)

From Ojibwe, likely Ojibwe jaasakiid, third person singular subject changed conjunct of jiisakii (“s/he operates a shaking tent”).

A prophet or medicine man among certain Native American peoples.


kalumet

kalumet (nominative singular)
kalumety (nominative plural)
kalumetu (genitive singular)
kalumetów (genitive plural)
kalumetowi (dative singular)
kalumetom (dative plural)
kalumet (accusative singular)
kalumety (accusative plural)
kalumetem (instrumental singular)
kalumetami (instrumental plural)
kalumecie (locative singular)
kalumetach (locative plural)
kalumecie (singular vocative)
kalumety (plural vocative)


Indian taco

Ostensibly from Indian + taco, based on the use of frybread, an American Indian food, similarity of toppings to those in tacos, and the fact that the frybread is sometimes folded as part of the dish.

If you stay for lunch, local Society of American Indian members will be home - cooking such native delicacies as puffy fried bread, thick Indian tacos and spicy chili beans.

1976 April 21, Pat Kennedy, “Indian festival set May 1”, in The Pleasanton Times, volume 90, number 116, Pleasanton, page 4:

when I'm having an Indian taco day / I discover it's just about too late / not to educate the oppressor / but am I ever good at doing it

1992, Annharte, “Coyote Columbus Cafe”, in Terry Goldie, Daniel David Moses, editors, An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 195:

"Lony, you like the taste of Indian tacos, right?" Orvil says.

2018, Tommy Orange, There, There, 1st; Everybody Reads edition, New York: Vintage Books, published 2020, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 131:

A dish made of fry bread topped with ingredients such as beans, cheese, and lettuce.


blood quantum

en-noun

blood quantum (plural blood quantums or blood quanta)

blood quantums (plural)
blood quanta (plural)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-blood quantum.wav

Native blood quantum was introduced in 1705 at the Virginia Colony. If you were at least half Native, you didn’t have the same rights as white people. Blood quantum and tribal membership qualifications have since been turned over to individual tribes to decide.

2018, Tommy Orange, There There, Harvill Secker, page 137:

(US, sometimes proscribed, sometimes offensive) The fraction of a person's ancestors, out of their total ancestors, who are documented as full-blooded Native Americans.


czerwonoskóry

pl-noun

czerwonoskóry m pers (female equivalent czerwonoskóra)

czerwonoskóra (feminine)
czerwonoskóry (nominative singular)
czerwonoskórzy (nominative plural)
czerwonoskórego (genitive singular)
czerwonoskórych (genitive plural)
czerwonoskóremu (dative singular)
czerwonoskórym (dative plural)
czerwonoskórego (accusative singular)
czerwonoskórych (accusative plural)
czerwonoskórym (instrumental singular)
czerwonoskórymi (instrumental plural)
czerwonoskórym (locative singular)
czerwonoskórych (locative plural)
czerwonoskóry (singular vocative)
czerwonoskórzy (plural vocative)

redskin, American Indian, Native American


peyote gravy

During the ritual, held in a living room of a dwelling, the leader sits, at the west of the room; […] Peyote is usually ground fine and mixed with water to make a “gravy.” One button or one spoonful of peyote “gravy” is taken each round.

1987, Omar C. Stewart, Peyote Religion: A History, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1990, →ISBN, page 269:

I am lost in the songs and the firelight, and so I don't see the Fireman begin the first serving of the sacred plant. […] Next comes the tea, […] and at last a mason jar full of a mixture of tea, powder, and shredded cactus affectionately called peyote gravy.

[2002 October, Jerry Mader, The Road to Lame Deer, University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page unknown:

I can speak generally though and will speak of the Peyote ceremony which came to our people [Osage] through the Dineh (Navaho) in relatively recent times. […] A peyote gravy is passed around and you may eat as little or as much as you wish.

2005 January 5, Blackbear, “Re:smatterings”, in alt.horror.werewolves (Usenet), retrieved 2022-08-24:

You'd always had skin problems. Since you can remember. Your dad used to rub peyote gravy on your rashes. That worked for a while. Until he wasn't around anymore.

2018, Tommy Orange, There, There, 1st; Everybody Reads edition, New York: Vintage Books, published 2020, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 217:

A mixture of peyote and water used ceremonially and medicinally.


algonquí

ca-adj

algonquí (feminine algonquina, masculine plural algonquins, feminine plural algonquines)

algonquina (feminine)
algonquins (masculine plural)
algonquines (feminine plural)


algonquí

ca-noun

algonquí m (plural algonquins, feminine algonquina)

algonquins (plural)
algonquina (feminine)


indeys

Borrowed from Russian инде́ец (indéjec). Doublet of hind.


Wigwam

de-noun

Wigwam m (strong, genitive Wigwams, plural Wigwams)

Wigwams (genitive)
Wigwams (plural)
Wigwam (nominative singular)
Wigwams (definite nominative plural)
Wigwams (genitive singular)
Wigwams (definite genitive plural)
Wigwam (dative singular)
Wigwams (dative definite plural)
Wigwam (accusative singular)
Wigwams (accusative definite plural)

Unadapted borrowing from English wigwam, from Abenaki wigwôm (“house”) or Penobscot wigwom (“house”), ultimately from Proto-Algonquian *wi·kiwa·ʔmi (“house”).


peace belt

An ornamental belt traditionally presented by certain Native American tribes as a symbol of peace.


fajka pokoju

fajka pokoju (nominative singular)
fajki pokoju (nominative plural)
fajki pokoju (genitive singular)
fajek pokoju (genitive plural)
fajce pokoju (dative singular)
fajkom pokoju (dative plural)
fajkę pokoju (accusative singular)
fajki pokoju (accusative plural)
fajką pokoju (instrumental singular)
fajkami pokoju (instrumental plural)
fajce pokoju (locative singular)
fajkach pokoju (locative plural)
fajko pokoju (singular vocative)
fajki pokoju (plural vocative)


łapacz snów

łapacz snów (nominative singular)
łapacze snów (nominative plural)
łapacza snów (genitive singular)
łapaczy snów (genitive plural)
łapaczowi snów (dative singular)
łapaczom snów (dative plural)
łapacz snów (accusative singular)
łapacze snów (accusative plural)
łapaczem snów (instrumental singular)
łapaczami snów (instrumental plural)
łapaczu snów (locative singular)
łapaczach snów (locative plural)
łapaczu snów (singular vocative)
łapacze snów (plural vocative)


Szoszon

pl-noun

Szoszon m pers (female equivalent Szoszonka)

Szoszonka (feminine)
Szoszon (nominative singular)
Szoszoni (nominative plural)
Szoszony (derogatory nominative plural)
Szoszona (genitive singular)
Szoszonów (genitive plural)
Szoszonowi (dative singular)
Szoszonom (dative plural)
Szoszona (accusative singular)
Szoszonów (accusative plural)
Szoszonem (instrumental singular)
Szoszonami (instrumental plural)
Szoszonie (locative singular)
Szoszonach (locative plural)
Szoszonie (singular vocative)
Szoszoni (plural vocative)

Shoshone (member of the Amerind Shoshone tribe)


en-proverb

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-no matter how much milk you put in coffee, it's still coffee.wav

There’s a saying among blak mob, ‘It doesn’t matter how much milk you put in tea, it’s still tea'.’ I am a descendant of genocide survivors, a child of the oldest living culture on Earth. Nothing, no amount of milk, can change that.

2021 November 7, Claire [G.] Coleman, “Not quite blak enough: ‘The people who think I am too white to be Aboriginal are all white’”, in The Guardian:

(Australia, New Zealand) One's blood quantum (percentage of person's ancestors who are full-blooded indigenous people) does not negate indigenous identity.


sash belt

Over 90 per cent of these were of the lap-sash type in which the sash belt cannot be separated from the lap belt.

1975, Proceedings - International Congress on Automotive Safety, page 844:

The relationship between sash belt force and the angle of recline of the sash also helped to explain other observations from the electronics results.

1996, Proceedings: The Fifteenth International Technical Conference on Enhanced Safety of Vehicles, page 1100:

Always use a lap/sash belt rather than just a lap belt, and make sure the belt fits properly; the lap belt should sit over your child's hip and the sash belt should sit on the shoulder without touching the neck.

2010, The Choice Guide to Baby Product, page 123:

The portion of a lap sash seatbelt that goes over the shoulder and down to the hip.


Indian paint pot

en-noun

Indian paint pot (plural Indian paint pots)

Indian paint pots (plural)
Indian paintpot (alternative)

So called because of local folklore and historical speculation in which they are said to have been used by indigenous people as sources of paint or dye. While iron oxides were indeed used as an ingredient in paints, the “pots” are a natural geological formation, and the extent to which these specific formations were utilized is unknown.

(chiefly eastern US, Long Island) A concave, iron oxide–containing mineral concretion such as red shale which sheds a chalky, reddish debris when wet and rubbed, often found along beaches.


en-proverb

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-no matter how much milk you put in tea, it's still tea.wav

no matter how much milk you put in coffee, it's still coffee#English

Alternative form of no matter how much milk you put in coffee, it's still coffee.


Earth Surface Person

en-noun

Earth Surface Person (plural Earth Surface People)

Earth Surface People (plural)
Earth surface person (alternative)
earth surface person (alternative)

Their tales qualify this as Earth People or Earth Surface People, for, in the long, poetic myth which is their bible, they climbed up to the earth's flat disk from her dark, underground womb.

1956, Ruth Murray Underhill, The Navajos, page 4:

Toad denounces angrily that an earth surface person should be going about here and shoots mudballs at various parts of her body (soles, hip joint, small of back, meeting of shoulder blades, hollow of head); she is lamed and felled by this witchery.

1957, Katherine Spencer, Mythology and Values, An Analysis of Navaho Chantway Myths, page 153:

Down where berries were reported to be, they went again, when suddenly she saw the woman's tracks. "Whose tracks are these? They are tracks of an earth surface person!" [Holy Young Woman said].

1975, Leland C. Wyman, The Mountainway of the Navajo, page 190:

Thus, the story of Changing Woman here is the story of her creation of the earth-surface people and of the things that they need in order to exist.

1984, John R. Farella, The Main Stalk, A Synthesis of Navajo Philosophy, page 89:

The great Navajo chant Beauty Way deals with a fruitful coming-together of an earth-surface person - a human being - and a spirit; the Beauty Way ceremony itself, which incorporates the story, is given to the Navajo people as a consequence of that event.

1993, Leslie Marmon Silko, Yellow Woman, page 121:

Sure, people have problems when they're married; no Earth Surface Person is perfect.

2001, Rose Mitchell, Tall Woman, The Life Story of Rose Mitchell, a Navajo Woman, c. 1874-1977, page 297:

The old man began the Restoration of the Earth Surface Person Upon His Return Home prayer, which describes the reuniting of a person with his home.

2003, R. A. F. McPhearson, Blackening Rite, page 22:

(folklore, Native American) A human being, specifically in cultures like the Navajo, residing on the physical Earth, as opposed to spiritual beings or deities, considered to reside in higher realms.