Meanings
alternative Athabaskan · alternative Athapascan · alternative Athapaskan
- not comparablePertaining to a group of peoples mostly inhabiting Alaska, western Canada, the Pacific coast of California and Oregon, and the Navajo and Apache peoples in the American Southwest.
“I’d like to thank the president for working with us to achieve this significant change to show honour, respect and gratitude to the Athabascan people of Alaska,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who led the fight for the name change in Congress.
2015 August 31, The Guardian
alternative Athabaskan · alternative Athapascan · alternative Athapaskan
- The family of languages spoken by these peoples.
plural Athabascans · alternative Athabaskan · alternative Athapascan · alternative Athapaskan
- Any member of these peoples.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna group of Amerindian languages (the name coined by an American anthropologist, Edward Sapir)
nouna member of any of the North American Indian groups speaking an Athapaskan language and living in the subarctic regions of western Canada and central Alaska
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- CreeAhđapaskâw
- EnglishAthabascan
From Athabasca + -an, from Cree Ahđapaskâw (literally “where there are plants distributed in a net-like pattern”).
More words from Cree
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch Athabaskisch
- AthabaskischTranslations
French athabascan
- athabascanTranslations
Irish teangacha Atapascacha
- teangacha Atapascachathe family of languages spoken by the Athabascan peoples
Portuguese atabascano, atabasca
- atabascanoTranslations
- atabascaTranslations
- atabascoTranslations
- atabascothe family of languages spoken by the Athabascan peoples
Cite this entry
Athabascan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Athabascan
“Athabascan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Athabascan. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Athabascan,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Athabascan.
Source: Athabascan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.