Athabaskan

/ˌæθəˈbæsk(ə)n/

Other forms: Athabaskans

Definitions of Athabaskan

1. noun

   a group of Amerindian languages (the name coined by an American anthropologist, Edward Sapir)
   synonyms: Athabascan, Athapascan, Athapaskan, Athapaskan language

   types:

   Apache

   the language of the Apache

   Navaho, Navajo

   the Athapaskan language spoken by the Navaho

   Hupa

   the Athapaskan language spoken by the Hupa

   Mattole

   the Athapaskan language spoken by the Mattole

   Chipewyan, Chippewaian, Chippewyan

   the language spoken by the Chipewyan

   Chiricahua Apache

   an Apache language

   San Carlos Apache

   an Apache language

   type of:

   American Indian, American-Indian language, Amerind, Amerindian language

   a dated term referring to any of the languages spoken by Indigenous people in the Americas
2. noun

   a member of any of the North American Indian groups speaking an Athapaskan language and living in the subarctic regions of western Canada and central Alaska
   synonyms: Athabascan, Athapascan, Athapaskan

   types:

   Apache

   any member of Athapaskan tribes that migrated to the southwestern desert (from Arizona to Texas and south into Mexico); fought a losing battle from 1861 to 1886 with the United States and were resettled in Oklahoma

   Chipewyan

   a member of the Athapaskan people living in western Canada between Great Slave Lake and Hudson Bay

   Hupa

   a member of the Athapaskan people of the Trinity River valley in California

   Mattole

   a member of the Athapaskan people living in northwestern California

   Navaho, Navajo

   a member of an Athapaskan people that migrated to Arizona and New Mexico and Utah

   type of:

   American Indian, Red Indian

   a dated term referring to the Indigenous people of North, Central, and South America