Wakashan

[wah-kash-uh n, waw-kuh-shan]

noun

a family of American Indian languages spoken in British Columbia and Washington and including especially Kwakiutl and Nootka.

Origin of Wakashan

1895; coined by J.W. Powell from Wakash, used as the name of a Nootka subgroup but originally a misapplication of Nootka wa·ka·š bravo!; see -an

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for wakashan

The relationship of this family to the Wakashan is a very interesting problem.
Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico|John Wesley Powell

British Dictionary definitions for wakashan

Wakashan

noun

a family of North American Indian languages of British Columbia and Washington, including Kwakiutl and Nootka

a speaker of any of these languages

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012