Shawnee

American  

[shaw-nee] / ʃɔˈni /

noun

plural

Shawnees,

plural

Shawnee

1. a member of an Algonquian-speaking tribe formerly in the east-central U.S., now in Oklahoma.

2. the Algonquian language of the Shawnee tribe.

3. a town in E Kansas.

4. a city in central Oklahoma.

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Shawnee British  

/ ʃɔːˈniː /

noun

1. a member of a North American Indian people formerly living along the Tennessee River

2. the language of this people, belonging to the Algonquian family

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Etymology

Origin of Shawnee

1720–30, back formation from earlier Shawnese, Shawanese (construed as plural), reshaping (with -ese ) of earlier Shawanoes (plural) < Munsee Delaware šá·wano·w (singular) < Shawnee ša·wano·ki Shawnees, literally, people of the south

Example Sentences

Shawnee Smith in "Saw" However, we’d be remiss if we didn’t consider the “Saw” movies, which sit at the other end of Perkins’ spectrum of pastiche.

From Salon • Feb. 26, 2025

And when chiseled turkey bones were unearthed on Tennessee land once inhabited by the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee and Yuchi peoples, archaeologists weren’t sure if they were for tattooing, medicinal uses or leatherworking.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2024

"It is important for us to advocate for human storytellers now, so that there is an industry left for future creators later," says Shawnee.

From BBC • Jan. 10, 2024

Timothy Phelps, deputy director of the Shawnee County Department of Corrections, confirmed that Cherry used to live at the same address as Zoey, but at the time of his arrest, Cherry was homeless.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 5, 2023

Fearful that ongoing war would mean utter destruction of their nation, a faction of Shawnee accepted a peace agreement that meant giving up some of their autonomy and the territory they used as hunting grounds.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz