Carib
Americannoun
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a member of a group of Indigenous peoples formerly dominant in the Lesser Antilles, now found in parts of the West Indies, Central America, and northeastern South America.
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the family of languages spoken by the Caribs.
adjective
noun
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a member of a group of American Indian peoples of NE South America and the Lesser Antilles
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the family of languages spoken by these peoples
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Carib
First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish caribe, from Taíno caniba, caribe, apparently “brave, daring, fierce person,” perhaps ultimately a borrowing from Carib kalina, karina “(brave, strong) person” or derived from a Cariban root that also appears in the names of the Garifuna, Kalina, and Kalinago peoples; see Kalina ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Meanwhile the Carib people of South America see a one-legged hunter named Epietembo.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 18, 2023
Don’t just reflexively book an airline ticket, says Tracey McGoughy, a travel adviser at Carib Compass Travel and Wellness.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 12, 2022
They hired Carib Daniel Martin, an architect based in Kensington, Md., who has worked with Matt.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 30, 2022
It appeared on Hispaniola in 1518 and quickly swept through the Caribbean, possibly killing a majority of the native Carib and Taíno people in a decade or two.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
There are probably Carib Indians on the island, Captain Newport tells us, but we will give them beads and our soldiers will stand guard at night, and we’ll be safe.
From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone
The eclectic artwork and colorful tapestries plastering the walls of Tower Cafe reflect not only the international menu but also the ethnic patchwork of residents: Mexicans, East Africans, East Asians, Caribs and Europeans among them.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 14, 2018
The villagers who met the sailors were members of the Taíno, or Arawak, people, who uneasily shared the islands and coastlines of the Caribbean Sea with neighbors they called the Caribs.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
The Garífuna are descendants of West Africans who were shipwrecked in 1635 off the coast of St. Vincent, where they intermarried with the indigenous Arawaks and Caribs.
From The New Yorker ● Mar. 23, 2015
Like many of its Caribbean neighbors, it has changed hands repeatedly: the Siboney, Arawaks and the Caribs saw their island seized by the Spanish, then the British, who brought along African slaves.
From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2014
We played Caribs and Spaniards in the house, whooping and pretend-dying around her as she stirred our oatmeal.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
