Chumash

¹ American  

[choo-mash] / ˈtʃu mæʃ /

noun

plural

Chumashes,

plural

Chumash

1. a member of an American Indian people who formerly inhabited the southern California coast from San Luis Obispo to Santa Monica Bay, as well as the Santa Barbara Islands and the interior westward to the San Joaquin Valley: noted for their sophisticated seacraft and rock paintings.

2. any of the Hokan languages of the Chumash, at least six in number, all now extinct.

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Chumash ² American  

[khoo-mahsh, khoom-uhsh] / xuˈmɑʃ, ˈxʊm əʃ /

noun

Hebrew.

plural

Chumashim

1. Humash.

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chumash British  

/ ˈxʊməʃ, xʊˈmaʃ /

noun

1. Judaism a printed book containing one of the Five Books of Moses

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Etymology

Origin of chumash

literally: a fifth (part of the Torah)

Example Sentences

The baskets at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and the Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center belong to family members who were willing to loan them out for display.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026

Baskets were a ubiquitous part of Chumash life before the colonists came.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026

Tongva, Chumash and Cahuilla workers in California formed the backbone of rancho agriculture.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025

The six-bedroom home is described in its listing as an “architectural reverie” that draws “respectful inspiration from the Chumash people,” a Native American tribe that once occupied the land.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 31, 2025

Chumash is the name of the Santa Rosa Islanders, who spoke a dialect of this stock, and is a term widely known among the Indians of this family.

From Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 1-142 by Powell, John Wesley