🧑‍🦱 An Indigenous person 🗣️ A language family

Athapascan

9.9

A person from Indigenous groups in Alaska or western Canada who speaks related native languages

noun
/ˌæθəˈpæskən/

: atapasco

Many Athapascan peoples have rich oral storytelling traditions passed down through generations.

Examples

The Athapascan tribes adapted to the harsh subarctic climate with ingenuity and resilience.
She studied the migration patterns of early Athapascan groups across Alaska and Canada.
The Athapascan people have a rich cultural heritage.
Many Athapascans still practice traditional hunting methods.
Many Athapascan peoples have rich oral storytelling traditions passed down through generations.
She studied the migration patterns of early Athapascan groups across Alaska and Canada.
The Athapascan tribes adapted to the harsh subarctic climate with ingenuity and resilience.

Synonyms

Amerindian

vsAthapascan

1 7.3

A person whose family comes from the native peoples of North or South America

is narrower, applying specifically to subarctic speaker communities

Athabascan

vsAthapascan

9.9

A person from native groups in Alaska or western Canada who speaks a native language

is about such people generally rather than stressing the traditional region

Athabaskan

vsAthapascan

9.9

A Native American person who speaks a related western North American language, often living in Alaska or Canada

is the same but emphasizes membership across broader North American groups

Athapaskan

vsAthapascan

9.9

A person from native groups in western Canada or central Alaska who speak similar languages

is broader and covers speakers across the subarctic region

Surface Forms

Athapascan singular

Athapascans plural

Etymology

Athapascan comes from the place name Athabasca, a river in Canada, and that river name comes from a Cree word meaning 'where there are reeds'. People who lived near the Athabasca River were called by that name, so Athapascan became the name for these Indigenous peoples in the subarctic regions.