Meanings
cayuse1
Cayuse2
- pluralplural onlyA Native American tribe of Oregon.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
cayuse · noun
Named after the Cayuse tribe of the Pacific Northwest. However, the etymology of this tribe name is unknown; it may be an exonym, and may in fact come from Spanish caballo (“horse”), which is the source of the word for horse in many Native American languages of western North America.
Full word history & related roots →Cayuse · noun
- Frenchcailloux
- EnglishCayuse
Adapted from French cailloux, a pre-existing French word. The reason this word came to be used for the tribe is unknown; see the Wikipedia article for theories.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
cayuse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cayuse
“cayuse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cayuse. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cayuse,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cayuse.
Source: cayuse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.