Athabascan

American  

[ath-uh-bas-kuhn] / ˌæθ əˈbæs kən /

(Older Spelling) Athabaskan;

noun

• Athabascans,
  plural
• Athabascan
  plural

1. a family of languages spoken by North American Indians in most of Alaska and inland northwest Canada, in coastal Oregon and California, and in Arizona and the Rio Grande basin, and including especially Navajo, Apache, and Chipewyan.

2. a member of any of various North American Indian peoples speaking Athabascan.

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adjective

1. belonging to or characteristic of the Athabascan.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Athabascan
  plural
• Athabascans
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of Athabascan

First recorded in 1770–80; earlier Athapasca(s), introduced as a term for the Canadian Athabascans (from Woods Cree ahδapaska·w “Lake Athabasca,” literally, “there are reeds here and there,” from Proto-Algonquian aʔlap(y)- “net, reticulated” + -ašk- “plant” + derivational elements) + -an

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Athabascan Athabascans

In 2015, then-President Barack Obama redesignated the mountain Denali, a name long championed by Alaskans, which roughly translates to “the great one” in Koyukon Athabascan, a Native Alaskan language.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2025

The stamps feature skateboard artists from around the country, including Greenwood and Crystal Worl, who is Tlingit Athabascan.

From Washington Times ● Mar. 24, 2023

Long before any of this, the land was home to the Ahtna Athabascan people, who still practice traditional subsistence hunting and fishing in the area.

From New York Times ● Sep. 24, 2022

Denali, the mountain’s federally recognized name since 2015, is a Koyukon word that meaning “the tall one” that has been in use for 10,000 to 12,000 years by many Athabascan peoples, an Alaska Native group.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 22, 2022

Brother," she said in her soft Oneida tongue, "I am an Athabascan of the Heron Clan, adopted into the Oneida nation.

From The Little Red Foot by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

The 211-mile road to the Ambler Mining District in northwest Alaska would cross the Koyukon, Tanana Athabascans and Iñupiat native lands, the department said in a statement.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2022

“We show that all Native Americans, including the major sub-groups of Amerindians and Athabascans, descend from the same migration wave into the Americas.”

From The Guardian ● Jul. 21, 2015

That was the way Matonabbee had won the Athabascans for the Hudson's Bay Company.

From Pathfinders of the West Being the Thrilling Story of the Adventures of the Men Who Discovered the Great Northwest: Radisson, La Vérendrye, Lewis and Clark by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut

It was luminous as the Alaskan valleys when on white arctic nights they are lighted, the Athabascans believe, by the gleaming spears of hunting gods.

From The Metal Monster by Abraham Merritt

With the Athabascans went Hearne, reaching Fort Prince of Wales on June 30, 1772, after eighteen months' absence.

From Pathfinders of the West Being the Thrilling Story of the Adventures of the Men Who Discovered the Great Northwest: Radisson, La Vérendrye, Lewis and Clark by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut

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