Montagnard

American  

[mon-tuhn-yahrd, -yahr] / ˌmɒn tənˈyɑrd, -ˈyɑr /

noun

plural

Montagnards,

plural

Montagnard

1. (sometimes lowercase) a member of a dark-skinned people of mixed ethnic origins inhabiting the highland areas of Vietnam.

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Montagnard British  

/ -ˈjɑː, ˌmɒntənˈjɑːd /

noun

1. a member of a hill people living on the border between Vietnam, Laos, and NE Cambodia

2. a member of a North American Indian people living in the N Rocky Mountains

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Etymology

Origin of Montagnard

1835–45; < French: literally, mountaineer. See mountain, -ard

Example Sentences

Earlier in the year Thailand also sent a Vietnamese Montagnard activist back to Vietnam.

From BBC

The mountainous region in the Central Highlands was populated by Montagnard villagers, whom Army advisers — and before them, C.I.A. officers — tried to shape into a bulwark against the Vietcong, the Communist insurgency aligned with North Vietnam.

From New York Times

In 1992, Mr. Thayer followed the Vietnam War-era Ho Chi Minh Trail and encountered a lost group of the U.S.-allied Montagnard militia that did not know the conflict had been long over.

From Washington Post

The case began in 2018, when a Facebook page critical of Sam Rainsy posted a video of a 2013 meeting he had in the United States with Kok Ksor, a leader of the ethnic Jarai hilltribe who headed the Montagnard Foundation, a U.S.-based organization representing the interests of hilltribe minorities who live in central Vietnam and northeastern Cambodia.

From Seattle Times

Around the corner was an old Montagnard man holding a long knife used to cut corn, ready to defend his family.

From Washington Post