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

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Abenaki Abenakis

The state of Vermont recognizes four tribes that are descended from the Abenaki people, including the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 9, 2023

Ms. Obomsawin, 90, is a member of the Abenaki Nation and grew up in Quebec.

From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2023

Michelle O’Bonsawin, an Abenaki member of the Odanak First Nation and a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, is set to fill the vacancy on the nation’s highest bench after a parliamentary hearing.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 19, 2022

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

The Abenaki sent goods to Verrazzano on a rope strung from ship to shore, I said.

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

It was such a reply as the English Governors of New York had been wont to give to the Iroquois; and the Abenakis, like the Iroquois, were little satisfied with it.

From A Historical Geography of the British Colonies Vol. V, Canada—Part I, Historical by Charles Prestwood Lucas

The English wish to seize upon the lands that the Abenakis and Indians of the River St. John occupy, under the pretext that this land forms part of Acadia ceded to them by the king.

From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by W. O. (William Odber) Raymond