Navajo

American  

[nav-uh-hoh, nah-vuh-] / ˈnæv əˌhoʊ, ˈnɑ və- /

Or Navaho

noun

• Navajos,
  plural
• Navajoes,
  plural
• Navajo
  plural

1. Also called Diné.  a member of the most populous nation of the southern division of Athabascan Native Americans, located in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, and now constituting the largest tribal group in the United States.

2. the Athabascan language of the Navajo.

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adjective

1. Also of, relating to, or characteristic of the Navajo, their language, or their culture.

   a Navajo blanket.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Navajo
  plural
• Navajoes
  plural
• Navajos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Navajo

First recorded in 1800–10; from American Spanish Apaches de Nabajú “Apaches of Nabajú” (Navajo and several Apachean languages are mutually intelligible), originally a place name applied to the Largo Canyon region of the Four Corners area of northwest New Mexico, from Tewa navahu “large arroyo with cultivated fields”; see also Diné ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Navajo Navajoes Navajos

Miranda-Martin painted it with Benjamin Moore’s Navajo, a flat white, as a backdrop to the softer hues of the furniture he designed at his furniture and lighting company, Studio MM.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026

“In the beginning there was nothing but Spider Woman,” say Navajo and Pueblo elders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

Last year, the Navajo Nation president said his office had received reports of tribal citizens in Arizona and New Mexico getting caught up in the crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026

A pre-trial conference and release hearing is scheduled for March 17 in Navajo County.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2025

Even though we all spoke in Navajo, we had come from many distant parts of Dinetah.

From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac

The San Carlos runs in from the north; and Seguin had resolved to travel up this stream for a hundred miles or so, and afterwards strike eastward to the country of the Navajoes.

From The Scalp Hunters by F.A. Stewart

I knew that my captive daughter was in the hands of the Navajoes.

From The Scalp Hunters by F.A. Stewart

We are the children of Montezuma; we are Navajoes.

From The Scalp Hunters by F.A. Stewart

The Navajoes, about twenty-two thousand in number, now own more than twelve million acres in Arizona and New Mexico.

From The Indian To-day The Past and Future of the First American by Charles Alexander Eastman

The twenty were soon selected; and, stepping out on the open ground, as the Navajoes had done, we piled our rifles in the presence of the enemy.

From The Scalp Hunters by F.A. Stewart

The tribal official urged Navajos to carry state-issued identification or their “Certificate of Indian blood.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 15, 2026

The Navajos gradually let Kawano into their world.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2024

Many Navajos died during a forced relocation known as the Long Walk, starting in 1863, and during a yearslong detention in eastern New Mexico.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 1, 2023

“The Navajos do not contend that the United States has interfered with their access to water,” he wrote.

From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2023

Maybe the other Navajos had been right about old Betonie.

From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko