ATHABASCAN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Athabascan mean? 

• ATHABASCAN (noun)
  The noun ATHABASCAN has 2 senses:

1. a group of Amerindian languages (the name coined by an American anthropologist, Edward Sapir)

2. a 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

  Familiarity information: ATHABASCAN used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ATHABASCAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A group of Amerindian languages (the name coined by an American anthropologist, Edward Sapir)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Athabascan; Athabaskan; Athapascan; Athapaskan; Athapaskan language

Hypernyms ("Athabascan" is a kind of...):

American-Indian language; American Indian; Amerind; Amerindian language; Indian (any of the languages spoken by Amerindians)

Domain region:

America; the States; U.S.; U.S.A.; United States; United States of America; US; USA (North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Athabascan"):

Apache (the language of the Apache)

Navaho; Navajo (the Athapaskan language spoken by the Navaho)

Hupa (the Athapaskan language spoken by the Hupa)

Mattole (the Athapaskan language spoken by the Mattole)

Chipewyan; Chippewaian; Chippewyan (the language spoken by the Chipewyan)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A 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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Athabascan; Athabaskan; Athapascan; Athapaskan

Hypernyms ("Athabascan" is a kind of...):

Amerindian; Native American (any member of the peoples living in North or South America before the Europeans arrived)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Athabascan"):

Apache (any member of Athapaskan tribes that migrated to the southwestern desert (from Arizona to Texas and south into Mexico); fought a losing battle from 1861 to 1886 with the United States and were resettled in Oklahoma)

Chipewyan (a member of the Athapaskan people living in western Canada between Great Slave Lake and Hudson Bay)

Hupa (a member of the Athapaskan people of the Trinity River valley in California)

Mattole (a member of the Athapaskan people living in northwestern California)

Navaho; Navajo (a member of an Athapaskan people that migrated to Arizona and New Mexico and Utah)

 Context examples 

The concept refers to population subgroups such as Eskimos, Aleuts, Inupiat, Yupik, Alutiiq, Egegik,and Pribilovian, Alaskan Athabascan, Tlingit, and Haida.

(Alaska Native, NCI Thesaurus)