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  

/ ˌmɒntənˈjɑːd, -ˈjɑː /

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Montagnard
  plural
• Montagnards
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of Montagnard

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

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Montagnard Montagnards

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

From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2025

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

BANGKOK, Thailand — During the Vietnam War, Kanh Kpa’s indigenous Montagnard relatives fought alongside US Army Special Forces in Vietnam’s remote Central Highlands, where the mostly Christian tribesmen gained a reputation as fierce and loyal allies.

From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2015

Eventually, hundreds of thousands of evacuated Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao and Montagnard migrants found haven across the U.S.,

From Time ● Apr. 24, 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

But after the war, the ethnic and religious minority Montagnards, or “mountain people,” long at odds with the Vietnamese government, paid a steep price.

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 P. Lissagary

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---