Chiricahua

American  

[chir-i-kah-wuh] / ˌtʃɪr ɪˈkɑ wə /

noun

• Chiricahuas,
  plural
• Chiricahua
  plural

1. a member of an Apache group that comprises several Apache bands, formerly located in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, now living primarily in Oklahoma and New Mexico.

2. the Athabascan language of the Chiricahua, differing only dialectically from Navaho.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Chiricahua
  plural
• Chiricahuas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Chiricahua

First recorded in 1885–90; via Spanish from Opata (extinct Uto-Aztecan language of Sonora) Chihuicahui or Chiguicagui “Mountain of the Wild Turkey” (now the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Chiricahua Chiricahuas

Moffett, who studies the social behavior of ants and other animals, noticed the interaction while visiting a research station in Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 14, 2026

Another, named Sombra, was also spotted in Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains later that year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2024

The family is Chiricahua Apache, and Oak Flat, or Chi’chil Bildagoteel, is a consecrated place used for prayer and ritual by them and many other Native American peoples in the region.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 28, 2023

Posted outside Cave Creek Ranch in the Chiricahua Mountains, about 150 miles southeast of Tucson, a schedule of the expected arrival dates of migrating and seasonal birds anticipated the elegant trogon on April 6.

From New York Times ● Jun. 15, 2021

They would whisk along the long, shimmering highway to El Patrons other house in the Chiricahua Mountains.

From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer

They had been allowed to sit down by the spring, closely watched and guarded by one of the Chiricahuas.

From The Red Mustang by William O. Stoddard

There was great anxiety about his safety, for Geronimo, attacked by Crook in the Apache stronghold of the Tonto Basin, had escaped to the mountains of northwestern Mexico with his band of fierce Chiricahuas.

From The Round-Up A romance of Arizona novelized from Edmund Day's melodrama by Edmund Day

Captain Moore had been informed of the name of the chief whose band had wandered from the Reservation, and now the Chiricahuas were in no doubt as to whose work lay before them.

From The Red Mustang by William O. Stoddard

Then he swung himself into the saddle and rode away, straight down the narrow arroyo, out beyond its lower widening, into the vast plains the hither side of the Chiricahuas.

From Arizona Nights by Stewart Edward White

Far to the south rise the rugged Chiricahuas, and nearby stands bald Dos Cabezas, whose giant double head of granite can be seen as a conspicuous landmark over a wide scope of country.

From Arizona Sketches by J. A. (Joseph Amasa) Munk