Indian

American  

[in-dee-uhn] / ˈɪn di ən /

noun

• Indians
  plural

1. Also called American Indian, Amerind, Amerindian, Native American.  a member of any of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas, especially of subarctic North America, excluding the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut.

2. any of the Indigenous languages of the American Indians. Ind

3. a member of any of the peoples native to or inhabiting India or the East Indies.

4. a citizen of the Republic of India.

5. Slang. a person who performs a required task or carries out the instructions of superiors.

   We have too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

6. Astronomy. the constellation Indus.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the American Indians or their languages.

2. of, relating to, or characteristic of India or the East Indies.

3. made of Indian corn.

   Indian meal.

4. Zoogeography. oriental.

5. Phytogeography. belonging or pertaining to a geographical division comprising India south of the Himalayas, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Indian British  

/ ˈɪndɪən /

noun

1. a native, citizen, or inhabitant of the Republic of India

2. old-fashioned a Native American

3. (not in scholarly usage) any of the languages of Native Americans

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of India, its inhabitants, or any of their languages

2. (Not in scholarly usage) of, relating to, or characteristic of Native Americans or any of their languages

Sensitive Note

Because Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed that the Caribbean island on which he had landed was the subcontinent of India, he called the inhabitants Indians. Eventually, that name was applied to almost all the Indigenous, non-European inhabitants of North and South America. In modern times Indian may refer to an inhabitant of the subcontinent of India or of the East Indies, to a citizen of the Republic of India, or to a member of an aboriginal American people. However, the term Indian is not applied to the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut of Arctic North America. In the 18th century the term American Indian came to be used for the aboriginal inhabitants of the United States and Canada; it now includes the aboriginal peoples of South America as well. (When necessary, further distinctions are made with such terms as North American Indian and South American Indian. ) The terms Amerindian and Amerind subsequently developed in the attempt to reduce ambiguity. The most recent designation, especially in North America, is Native American. American Indians themselves tend to favor the terms Indian, American Indian, or a specific tribal name. They sometimes refer to themselves collectively as Indian peoples. All these terms appear in edited writing. Whether one or several will gain ascendancy over the others remains to be seen. See Eskimo. See also honest Injun, Indian giver.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pre-Indian
  noun
• anti-Indian
  adjective
• non-Indian
  adjective
• pro-Indian
  adjective
• pseudo-Indian
  adjective
• trans-Indian
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Indians
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Indian

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Medieval Latin Indiānus; replacing Middle English Indien, from Old French, from Medieval Latin as above; see India, -an

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Indian Indians

Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the disputed Himalayan region.

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

Manhunters morph to fit in with the population around them, but the skin your character chooses is that of a brown Indian woman.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026

Some 18% of Indian land is Himalayan, yet the region accounts for about 35% of disasters, according to the report.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

In 2021, British oil company Cairn Energy won the right to seize apartments in Paris owned by the Indian government in a tax dispute.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

The men who were walking found themselves on an old Indian path, so they didn’t have to spend valuable time and energy carving out a trail.

From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple

While millions of Indians seek jobs in the Gulf, some workers say Kashmir offers nearly comparable earnings without the costs and complications of overseas migration.

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

The Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians monitors water quality for algal blooms and cleans up spawning creeks that get clogged with sediment and trash.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

“They ran so thick in the rivers, you didn’t even need a pole,” said Simon, now chair of the Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

More than 100 Indians may have been at the crossing when the flood struck.

From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026

At a subsequent hearing, even a judge who served as a guardian acknowledged that rich Indians spent their wealth no differently than white people with money did.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann