Navajo

American  

[nav-uh-hoh, nah-vuh-] / ˈnæv əˌhoʊ, ˈnɑ və- /

Or Navaho

noun

PLURAL

Navajos, Navajoes

PLURAL

Navajo

1. Also called Diné.  a member of the most populous nation of the southern division of Athabascan Native Americans, located in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, and now constituting the largest tribal group in the United States.

2. the Athabascan language of the Navajo.

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adjective

1. Also of, relating to, or characteristic of the Navajo, their language, or their culture.

   a Navajo blanket.

Etymology

Origin of Navajo

First recorded in 1800–10; from American Spanish Apaches de Nabajú “Apaches of Nabajú” (Navajo and several Apachean languages are mutually intelligible), originally a place name applied to the Largo Canyon region of the Four Corners area of northwest New Mexico, from Tewa navahu “large arroyo with cultivated fields”; Diné ( def. )

Example Sentences

Ernie Stevens Sr. was also revered in Indian country, with leadership roles in places like Oneida, Navajo Nation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington.

From The Wall Street Journal

In addition to charging an entrance fee, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in Arizona provides guides, campgrounds and other services to benefit the tribal economy while encouraging visitors to “buy local, buy Navajo.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The Defense Department purges images, biographies and histories that reference the Tuskegee Airmen, the Navajo code talkers and baseball legend Jackie Robinson.

From Salon

Approaching the age of 90, he reversed his decision a few years later - to appear in several episodes of Dark Winds, the story of two Navajo police officers who try to solve a double murder.

From BBC

There were Navajo rugs; custom, Western-style Monterey couches and chairs; and hundreds of books, including signed first-editions by Theodore Roosevelt, Helen Keller and Harry Houdini.

From Los Angeles Times