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

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

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

The nearly 2,000-mile-long Yukon River starts in British Columbia and drains an area larger than Texas in both Canada and Alaska as it cuts through the lands of Athabascan, Yup’ik and other tribes.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 2, 2021

If any one thinks it easy to find and photograph birds' nests in the heart of the ancient wood on Athabascan banks in mosquito time he has "another guess coming."

From The New North by Cameron, Agnes Deans

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

Such beliefs prevail in part among the Yuki and Athabascans of the Coast Range and the Maidu of the Sacramento valley, and no doubt occur more or less sporadically in other regions.

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

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.

It was Matonabbee, the ambassador of the Hudson's Bay Company to the Athabascans, now returning to Fort Prince of Wales, followed by a long line of slave women driving their dog sleighs.

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)