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  • Zuni
    Zuni
    noun
    a member of a group of North American Indians inhabiting the largest of the Indian pueblos, in western New Mexico.
  • Zuñi
    Zuñi
    noun
    a member of a North American Indian people of W New Mexico

Zuni

American  
[zoo-nee] / ˈzu ni /
Also Zuñi

noun

plural

Zunis,

plural

Zuni
  1. a member of a group of North American Indians inhabiting the largest of the Indian pueblos, in western New Mexico.

  2. the language of the Zuni.


Zuñi British  
/ ˈsuː-, ˈzuːnjiː /

noun

  1. a member of a North American Indian people of W New Mexico

  2. the language of this people, a member of the Penutian phylum of languages

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • Zunian adjective
  • Zuñian adjective

Etymology

Origin of Zuni

An Americanism first recorded in 1830–35; earlier Zuñi, from Spanish (southwestern United States), from Acoma Keresan sɨ̂·ni (pronounced sθɨ̂·nyi ) or a cognate

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Denied entrance by the Zuni inhabitants, the starving Spaniards decided to attack.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

He joined a team digging for dinosaur fossils in the Zuni Basin in New Mexico.

From NewsForKids.net • Jun. 3, 2024

Zuni farmers in the southwestern United States made it through long stretches of extremely low rainfall between A.D.

From Salon • Feb. 26, 2024

Sanchez began thinking about the young people on the Zuni Reservation.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 3, 2024

He started singing again, this time it wasn’t a Laguna song; it sounded like a Jemez song or maybe one from Zuni.

From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko