Papuan
Americanadjective
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of or relating to New Guinea or to Papua New Guinea.
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noting or pertaining to the Indigenous Black peoples of New Guinea.
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of or relating to any of the unaffiliated languages indigenous to New Guinea and other islands nearby, especially Timor, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Moluccas, and the Solomons.
noun
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a native or inhabitant of New Guinea or Papua New Guinea.
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any of the Papuan languages.
adjective
noun
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a native or inhabitant of Papua New Guinea
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any of several languages of Papua New Guinea that apparently do not belong to the Malayo-Polynesian family
Etymology
Origin of Papuan
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.
The echidna was not the only creature the team found in the West Papuan rainforest.
From Washington Times • Nov. 10, 2023
By combining scientific techniques with the Papuan team members' experience and knowledge of the forest, the team made a wealth of new discoveries.
From Science Daily • Nov. 9, 2023
“They were the national heroes of the Papuan people,” Sambom said in a statement provided to The Associated Press on Monday.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 2, 2023
He denied reports that the group was prepared to drop a demand for the Indonesian government to recognise Papuan independence before they could consider freeing him.
From BBC • Apr. 7, 2023
Australian languages and New Guinea’s Papuan languages are unrelated not only to Asian languages but also to each other, except for some spread of vocabulary in both directions across Torres Strait.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.