Etymology

Iowa

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Today it means: One of the Native Americans formerly occupying the region now included in the state of Iowa. Full definition →

French Aiouez ← Dakota ayúxba
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The story

  1. Dakota · derived fromayúxba“the sleepy ones”
  2. French · borrowed fromAiouez
  3. English todayIowa

From French Aiouez/Ayoés, an early transliteration of the name for the Iowa tribe, from Dakota ayúxba (“the sleepy ones”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.