Huastec

[wahs-tek]

noun

plural

Huastecs ,

plural

Huastec .

1. a member of an Indigenous people of Mexico.

2. the Mayan language of the Huastec.

adjective

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

Other Word Forms

• Haustecan adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Huastec¹

First recorded in 1835–45; from Mexican Spanish huasteco from Nahuatl huāxtēcatl “person from Huāxtlān, ” equivalent to huāx(in), a tropical tree that produces edible pods + -tlān locative suffix + -tēcatl suffix of ethnic names

Example Sentences

“This is a very important piece,” said archaeologist Sara Ladron de Guevara, a scholar of Mexico’s Huastec culture, pointing in particular to the cross-shaped open mouth.

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It is believed that the sculpture depicts a leading female member of the Huastec people at the time of its creation.

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Some internet sleuthing in the days that followed persuaded Cabrera that the statue, carved with elaborate ornaments and a flowing feather headdress, resembled the Huastec goddess of lust.

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For centuries, thriving Huastec population centers dotted Mexico’s steamy southeastern coast, many clustered around rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico, stretching across six modern-day Mexican states including Veracruz, Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosi.

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Sara Ladron de Guevara, dean of Veracruz University and herself an archaeologist, points to an appreciation of Huastec sculpture outside Mexico.

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