Cayuga

American  

[kay-yoo-guh, kahy-] / keɪˈju gə, kaɪ- /

noun

• Cayugas,
  plural
• Cayuga
  plural

1. a member of a tribe of North American Indians, the smallest tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy.

2. the dialect of the Seneca language spoken by the Cayuga.

3. Also called Cayuga duck. one of an American breed of domestic ducks having black plumage.

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Cayuga British  

/ keɪˈjuːɡə, kaɪ- /

noun

1. a member of a Native American people (one of the Iroquois peoples) formerly living around Cayuga Lake

2. the language of this people, belonging to the Iroquoian family

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Cayuga
  plural
• Cayugas
  plural

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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)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Cayuga Cayugas

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

I’ve been learning my Indigenous language, Cayuga, for five years.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2023

Bulldozing and claims of kidnapping: The Cayuga Nation, a tribe in upstate New York, is at war with itself.

From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2023

Another was brought by Seneca Lake Guardian, an environmental group, against the state for approving a waste transfer station that could leak toxic chemicals into Cayuga Lake, a source of drinking water.

From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2023

It was made up of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk Nations and was later joined by the Tuscaroras.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

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

This latter alone was sufficient to condemn them for all market purposes, especially when subjected to the same discount on dark pins and feathers as the Cayugas.

From Natural and Artificial Duck Culture by James Rankin

He spoke of my mission to Cresap and the Cayugas as a mistake in policy; and I burned to hear him criticise Sir William's acts.

From Cardigan by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

I conceived the idea of procuring some of the best stock possible of Rouens, Aylesburys, Cayugas, and crossing them on the Pekins, with the object of increasing the size and precocity.

From Natural and Artificial Duck Culture by James Rankin

Then they came in hordes—Mohawks, Senecas, Cayugas, and Oneidas.

From Cardigan by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

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