Yaqui

[yah-kee]

noun

plural

Yaquis ,

plural

Yaqui .

1. Also called Yoeme. a member of an Indigenous people of Sonora, Mexico, now living also in other parts of northwestern Mexico and in Arizona and Texas.

2. Also called Yoem Noki. the Uto-Aztecan language of the Yaqui.

3. a river in northwestern Mexico, flowing into the Gulf of California. 420 miles (676 kilometers) long.

adjective

1. of or relating to the Yaqui or their language.

Yaqui

/ ˈjaki /

noun

1. a river in NW Mexico, rising near the border with the US and flowing south to the Gulf of California. Length: about 676 km (420 miles)

Word History and Origins

Origin of Yaqui¹

First recorded in 1860–65; from Mexican Spanish, from earlier Hiaquis (plural), from Yaqui hiaki, hiyaki “the Yaqui River”

Example Sentences

Burgundy Trejo Phoenix, an Yaqui actress who voices a character named Squash in “Spirit Rangers,” first connected with the Chapter House when it screened the Season 4 finale of the kids show in April.

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She immediately felt embraced by the community, even though she wasn’t brought up with her Yaqui traditions.

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“I think tribes are starting to see that they have more leverage than they thought, and that they’ve previously exercised, over all this infrastructure that’s on their land,” said Pilar Thomas, an attorney, member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona and former deputy director of the Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs at the U.S.

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“This takes us back to the early years of colonization and how Natives were taken advantage of for economic gain,” said Molina, of Pascua Yaqui and San Carlos Apache ancestry.

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The Pascua Yaqui Tribe has 22,000 enrolled members, but limited land and housing allow only a third to live on its 3.5-square-mile reservation on the outskirts of Tucson.

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