Sioux

American  

[soo] / su /

noun

1. Dakota.

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Sioux British  

/ suː /

noun

1. a member of a group of North American Indian peoples formerly ranging over a wide area of the Plains from Lake Michigan to the Rocky Mountains

2. any of the Siouan languages

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Sioux Cultural  

1. A common name for the Dakota people, a tribe of Native Americans inhabiting the northern Great Plains in the nineteenth century. They were famed as warriors and frequently took up arms in the late nineteenth century to oppose the settlement of their hunting grounds and sacred places. In 1876, Sioux warriors, led by Chief Sitting Bull, and commanded in the field by Chief Crazy Horse, overwhelmed the United States cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. (See Custer's last stand.) A group of Sioux under Chief Big Foot were massacred by United States troops at Wounded Knee in 1890.

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Etymology

Origin of Sioux

An Americanism dating back to 1755–65; from North American French, shortening of earlier Nadouessioux from Ojibwe (Ottawa dialect) na·towe·ssiw(ak) (plural), from unattested Proto-Algonquian na·towe·hsiw-, derivative of unattested na·towe·wa ”Iroquoian,” probably literally, “speaker of a foreign language”) + French -x plural marker

Example Sentences

As an actor, Chasing Horse was best known for his role as a young member of South Dakota's Sioux tribe in the Oscar-winning 1990 film Dances With Wolves.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026

At the heart of the North Dakota court battle was the Dakota Access Pipeline, where from 2016 to 2017 the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe led one of the largest anti-fossil-fuel protests in US history.

From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026

It occupies 5,250 square feet of office space in Sioux Falls as part of a lease scheduled to expire in 2028, the filing said.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 21, 2026

In a statement Wednesday evening, a Homeland Security spokesperson said, “We have not been able to verify any claims that DHS law enforcement arrested or even encountered members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 15, 2026

This one came all the way from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

From "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool