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

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Athabascan Athabascans

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

From Washington Times ● Mar. 24, 2023

In a region the size of Oregon, the population is just 26,000 — the majority of them Yup’ik, Cup’ik or Athabascan.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 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

He said the Dena’ina Athabascan people were virtually invisible until a civic and convention center was named after them.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 12, 2021

The history of the migrations of the Indians from the Athabascan or Mackenzie region is impossible to trace now.

From Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled A Narrative of Winter Travel in Interior Alaska by Stuck, Hudson

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

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 Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)

The surrounding tribes are the Wishosk or Wiyot, perhaps the Chimariko and some of the Shasta, the Athabascan Tolowa, and the Athabascans southwest of the Hupa.

From The Religion of the Indians of California by Kroeber, A. L.

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 Laut, Agnes C. (Agnes Christina)