Abenaki

American  

[uh-ben-uh-kee, ab-uh-nak-ee, ah-buh-nah-kee] / əˈbɛn ə ki, ˌæb əˈnæk i, ˌɑ bəˈnɑ ki /

noun

• Abenakis,
  plural
• Abenaki
  plural

1. a member of a grouping of Indigenous peoples of southern Quebec, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and parts of northern Massachusetts.

2. any of the Eastern Algonquian languages of the Abenaki peoples.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Abenaki or their language.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Abenaki
  plural
• Abenakis
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of Abenaki

First recorded in 1690–1700; from French Abenaqui, Abenaki, from Eastern Abenaki ( Penobscot ) wapánahki or Western Abenaki wɔ̃banakii, literally, “people of the dawn land, easterners,” a self-designation

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Abenaki Abenakis

Museum officials have consulted on the project with the leaders of the four bands of the state-recognized Abenaki tribes in Vermont.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 29, 2023

Earl Hatley, a member of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, is one of the Indigenous activists frustrated with the Biden administration.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 19, 2022

Allen and Benner, as they are called, have witnessed a string of inhabitants over the centuries, from the Abenaki people and English colonists to homesteading lobstermen.

From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2022

Tribes that have practiced the art form include some Algonquin peoples of the Great Lakes parts of Canada and the United States, Ojibwe, Pottawatomi, Abenaki, Odawa, Chippewa and some groups of Cree.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 30, 2021

Meanwhile, the Wampanoag were rivals and enemies of the Narragansett and Pequots to the west and the many groups of Abenaki to the north.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

There were also Nipmuck towns between Boston and the Connecticut River Valley, and the Abenakis held most of inland Maine.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

I thought about the First Nation Abenakis, how they named the lakes and rivers, and about our ignorance.

From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2017

There was nothing for it but to set on the Abenakis to fight for them.

From A Half Century of Conflict - Volume I France and England in North America by Francis Parkman

His attitude, however, was uncertain; for as early as 1707 we find him approving Vaudreuil for directing the missionaries to prompt the Abenakis to war.

From A Half Century of Conflict - Volume I France and England in North America by Francis Parkman

French writers say that the English surprised and killed some of the Abenakis, who thereupon asked help from Canada.

From A Half Century of Conflict - Volume I France and England in North America by Francis Parkman

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