Kootenay

American  

[koot-n-ey, ˈkut-n-ee] / ˈkut nˌeɪ, -nˌi /

Or Kootenai,

noun

plural

Kootenays,

plural

Kootenay

1. a member of an Indigenous people of Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia.

2. the language of the Kootenay.

3. a river flowing from southwestern Canada through northwestern Montana and northern Idaho, swinging back into Canada to the Columbia River. 400 miles (645 km) long.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Kootenay or their language.

Kootenay British  

/ ˈkuːtəniː, ˈkuːtneɪ /

noun

1. a river in W North America, rising in SE British Columbia and flowing south into NW Montana, then north into Idaho before re-entering British Columbia, broadening into Kootenay Lake , then flowing to the Columbia River. Length: 655 km (407 miles)

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Etymology

Origin of Kootenay

First recorded in 1800–10; from Kootenay (a language isolate) Kútonâqa, a self-designation of some Canadian Kootenay; isolate ( def. )

Example Sentences

Francois Masse, the Parks Canada Superintendent of the Lake Louise, Yoho, and Kootenay Field Unit, said the rockfall was an "extremely rare event" that was "neither predictable nor preventable".

From BBC • Jun. 20, 2025

Ainsworth Hot Springs is about a nine-hour drive from Seattle, set into the side of a mountain facing Kootenay Lake.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 23, 2024

“We have very sustainable cutthroat and bull trout populations thanks to the pristine, intact watersheds in the upper Kootenay region,” said Heather Lamson, a fisheries biologist with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests.

From Washington Post • Aug. 13, 2022

But in 2014, as he and colleagues were collecting from a new quarry in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia, they began finding scraps of a mysterious new animal.

From New York Times • Sep. 8, 2021

Mony a time I hae crossed the Kootenay an' the Saskatchewan, an' if the Jordan's no wider an' deeper an' them I can tak ye across.

From The Warden of the Plains and Other Stories of Life in the Canadian North-west by Maclean, John