Nisqually

American  

[nis-kwawl-ee] / ˌnɪsˈkwɔl i /

noun

• Nisquallies,
  plural
• Nisqually
  plural

1. a member of a Lushootseed-speaking Indigenous people of western Washington State.

2. a river flowing from Mount Rainier through the Cascade Range to Puget Sound. 78 miles (126 km) long.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Nisqually.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Nisquallies
  plural
• Nisqually
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Nisqually

First recorded in 1820–30; from Lushootseed dxwsqwə́li, a place name used by this people on Puget Sound

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Nisqually Nisquallies

For example, the rupture that caused the 6.8 magnitude Nisqually earthquake in the Pacific Northwest in 2001 started about 32 miles beneath the seafloor.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026

Jim Wilcox, J.T.’s father, was a friend of the late Nisqually Indian leader Billy Frank Jr. The two met as neighbors in the Nisqually watershed, and the friendship they built still reverberates today.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 17, 2024

He carried the friendship that started with his dad into the next generation in his friendship with Willie Frank Jr., chairman of the Nisqually Tribe.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 17, 2024

Frank began his activism at an early age where he was arrested at just 14 years old for fishing in the Nisqually River.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 15, 2024

He was not a Nisqually, he said, but from another Northwest group—at this remove, I can’t recall which.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

They were found three days later by Nisquallies.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 3, 2018

On the south the Lummi adjoin the Samish and other bands of the Skagits, who in language approach the Nisquallies.

From Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallum and Lummi by George Gibbs