Indian

American  

[in-dee-uhn] / ˈɪn di ən /

noun

Indians plural

1. Also called American Indian, Amerind, Amerindian, Native American.  a member of any of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas, especially of subarctic North America, excluding the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut.

2. any of the Indigenous languages of the American Indians. Ind

3. a member of any of the peoples native to or inhabiting India or the East Indies.

4. a citizen of the Republic of India.

5. Slang. a person who performs a required task or carries out the instructions of superiors.

   We have too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

6. Astronomy. the constellation Indus.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the American Indians or their languages.

2. of, relating to, or characteristic of India or the East Indies.

3. made of Indian corn.

   Indian meal.

4. Zoogeography. oriental.

5. Phytogeography. belonging or pertaining to a geographical division comprising India south of the Himalayas, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Indian British  

/ ˈɪndɪən /

noun

1. a native, citizen, or inhabitant of the Republic of India

2. old-fashioned a Native American

3. (not in scholarly usage) any of the languages of Native Americans

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of India, its inhabitants, or any of their languages

2. (Not in scholarly usage) of, relating to, or characteristic of Native Americans or any of their languages

Sensitive Note

Because Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed that the Caribbean island on which he had landed was the subcontinent of India, he called the inhabitants Indians. Eventually, that name was applied to almost all the Indigenous, non-European inhabitants of North and South America. In modern times Indian may refer to an inhabitant of the subcontinent of India or of the East Indies, to a citizen of the Republic of India, or to a member of an aboriginal American people. However, the term Indian is not applied to the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut of Arctic North America. In the 18th century the term American Indian came to be used for the aboriginal inhabitants of the United States and Canada; it now includes the aboriginal peoples of South America as well. (When necessary, further distinctions are made with such terms as North American Indian and South American Indian. ) The terms Amerindian and Amerind subsequently developed in the attempt to reduce ambiguity. The most recent designation, especially in North America, is Native American. American Indians themselves tend to favor the terms Indian, American Indian, or a specific tribal name. They sometimes refer to themselves collectively as Indian peoples. All these terms appear in edited writing. Whether one or several will gain ascendancy over the others remains to be seen. See Eskimo. See also honest Injun, Indian giver.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pre-Indian
  noun
• anti-Indian
  adjective
• non-Indian
  adjective
• pro-Indian
  adjective
• pseudo-Indian
  adjective
• trans-Indian
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Indians
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Indian

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Medieval Latin Indiānus; replacing Middle English Indien, from Old French, from Medieval Latin as above; see India, -an

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Indian Indians

Racing against a stopwatch, a group of women folds bedsheets as they train to join an Indian startup that offers instant home services, transforming a traditionally word-of-mouth sector and promising better pay.

From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026

The Indian talent-flight Mr. Dhume uses as evidence cuts the other way, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Sonam Wangchuk is a well-known Indian activist and educator who is in the headlines after going on hunger strike in support of youth-led protesters demanding reforms to the education system.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

Indian activist and educationist Sonam Wangchuk, on hunger strike for the past 20 days in Delhi, has been forcibly removed from his protest site.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

Chief Opechancanough did mount one more large attack on the settlers, in 1644, but by then the European population had grown and the Indian population had been decimated.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

She noted that one elder from Kwaaymii Laguna Band of Indians responded with concerns about mud pots and other resources in the area, but it was more than five months after the consultation period closed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

According to a Pew Research Center survey, only about 30% of Indians belong to “general castes” ineligible for caste-based quota benefits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

Silicon Valley investor Deedy Das recently analyzed the career paths of 87 Indians who as students won medals at the International Physics Olympiad between 2001 and 2019.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

Government figures show Indians lost nearly $3 billion to cyber fraud in 2025, almost 40 times more than in 2021.

From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026

Cavalry soldiers, ninety-seven Cheyenne, Kiowa, Pawnee, and Sioux Indians, another fifty Cossacks and Hussars, 180 horses, eighteen buffalo, ten elk, ten mules, and a dozen other animals.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson