Cayuga
Americannoun
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Cayugas,
plural
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Cayuga
plural
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a member of a tribe of North American Indians, the smallest tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy.
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the dialect of the Seneca language spoken by the Cayuga.
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Also called Cayuga duck. one of an American breed of domestic ducks having black plumage.
noun
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a member of a Native American people (one of the Iroquois peoples) formerly living around Cayuga Lake
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the language of this people, belonging to the Iroquoian family
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Cayuga
1735–45, < Cayuga *kayo·kwę, name of a 17th-century village; compare Cayuga kayokwęhó˙nǫʔ Cayuga (people) (or < a related form in another N Iroquoian language)
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:
Megan Romer likes to spend her free time sewing costumes for school plays, picking blackberries in her backyard in rural Cayuga County, N.Y., and watching her partner play the fiddle in folk bands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Seneca-Cayuga filmmaker Erica Tremblay discusses how learning Cayuga inspired her feature debut starring Lily Gladstone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025
“It didn’t make sense because you use them once and throw them out,” said Hans Pfister, the president and co-founder of Cayuga Collection, the hotel group that manages the resort, which took housekeeping’s advice.
From New York Times ● Apr. 30, 2024
In 2023, the former Cedar View Golf course, on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake in upstate New York, was bought by the Finger Lakes Land Trust.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 18, 2024
Over the years Deganawidah and Ayenwatha persuaded the Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, and Mohawk to form an alliance instead of constantly fighting.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Ranged across what is now upstate New York, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas had recently forged a “covenant chain” of alliance with several English colonies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
"Can you not see that Colonel Cresap is driving the Cayugas into the King's ranks?"
From Cardigan by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
"I trust your Lordship would not believe that any gentleman present could harbour suspicions of a foul conspiracy between your Lordship and Captain Butler, to incite my Cayugas to attack white men!"
From Cardigan by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
Touching this mission of yours to the Cayugas," he said, frankly, "I see no good to come of it, and I say this with all respect to Sir William.
From Cardigan by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
From another chestnut-sapling dangled the symbol of the Cayugas, a pipe.
From Cardigan by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
