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Montagnard

American  
[mon-tuhn-yahrd, -yahr] / ˌmɒn tənˈjɑrd, -ˈjɑr /

noun

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


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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of Montagnard

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

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

From BBC Jan. 8, 2025

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

From Washington Post Mar. 10, 2021

Or civilian and official Mike Benge, from Heppner, Ore., an expert on Montagnard affairs, who disappeared into Viet Cong captivity in the Central Highlands.

From Seattle Times Jan. 29, 2018

“America has forgotten about us,” said Rev. Y Hin Nie, of the United Montagnard Christian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, a state that’s home to the world’s largest Montagnard population outside Vietnam.

From Salon Nov. 29, 2015

Maybe up in one of the high mountain villes, maybe with the Montagnard tribes.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

Both were Montagnards, members of the Revolution’s most ardent faction; Corday, from the rival Girondins, gained entry to Marat’s bathroom by claiming to have information on Girondin fugitives.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 21, 2025

Montagnards -- the collective name for various tribes in the Central Highlands -- sided with the US-backed south during Vietnam's decades-long war.

From Barron's Dec. 1, 2025

He served as a medic in Vietnam and helped train a large group of indigenous Montagnards to fight with the American and South Vietnamese forces.

From New York Times Jun. 2, 2017

In the 1960s, it was America’s turn: an estimated 61,000 Montagnards helped the US fight against the North Vietnamese.

From Salon Nov. 29, 2015

The old Montagnards themselves formed a group of their own, and never came to the Committee of the twenty arrondissements, which only wanted method and political experience to become a power.

From History of the Commune of 1871 by Lissagary, P.

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