Carib Indian
- noun
- /ˈkærɪb ˈɪndiən/
- Archaic
:
indio caribe
- In the Lesser Antilles, the Carib Indians cultivated cassava and other crops for their communities.
Examples
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In the eastern Caribbean, the Carib Indians were largely bypassed by early colonizers.
Academic text (1990) -
The Carib Indians often engaged in trade with neighboring tribes across the region.
-
Carib Indians have a rich cultural heritage, including traditional music and dance still celebrated today.
Synonyms
1
5.1
A person from the native peoples of South America before European arrival
A person from a native group that originally lived in northeast South America and the Lesser Antilles
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'Carib Indian' is directly compositional: 'Carib' names a specific indigenous Caribbean people and 'Indian' denotes belonging to indigenous American peoples, so the combined meaning ‘a member of the Carib indigenous group’ is predictable from the parts. This ethnic/nominal combination is cross-linguistically transparent and would be understood by a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Carib Indian comes from the name Carib, the people who lived on the islands now called the Caribbean. Early European visitors called them 'Caribes', and so today Carib Indian means a member of that native group.