Athabascan

American  

[ath-uh-bas-kuhn] / ˌæθ əˈbæs kən /

(Older Spelling) Athabaskan;

noun

Athabascans 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.

---

adjective

1. belonging to or characteristic of the Athabascan.

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• Athabascans
  plural
• Athabascan
  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

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

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

This took the form of studying the Athabascan gutturals with the aid of Lachlan's second son, a boy of eighteen.

From Burned Bridges by Sinclair, Bertrand W.