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Arawakan

[ar-uh-wah-kuh n, -wak-uh n]
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noun
  1. a family of numerous and widely scattered languages spoken formerly from Florida to Chile but now only in South America.
  2. a member of a group of Indian peoples who spoke these languages.
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adjective
  1. of or belonging to this language family or its speakers or to the Arawak.
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Origin of Arawakan

First recorded in 1905–10; Arawak + -an
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for arawakan

Historical Examples

  • In the east also there are evidences of the influence of Arawakan culture from the West Indies.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 4

    Various

  • In the languages of this region there are to be detected perhaps a few loan-words from Arawakan or Cariban dialects.

British Dictionary definitions for arawakan

Arawakan

noun
  1. a family of American Indian languages found throughout NE South America
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adjective
  1. of or relating to the peoples speaking these languages
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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