Indian

American  

[in-dee-uhn] / ˈɪn di ən /

noun

1. Also called American Indian, Amerind, Amerindian, Native American.  a member of any of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas, especially of subarctic North America, excluding the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut.

2. any of the Indigenous languages of the American Indians. Ind

3. a member of any of the peoples native to or inhabiting India or the East Indies.

4. a citizen of the Republic of India.

5. Slang. a person who performs a required task or carries out the instructions of superiors.

   We have too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

6. Astronomy. the constellation Indus.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of the American Indians or their languages.

2. of, relating to, or characteristic of India or the East Indies.

3. made of Indian corn.

   Indian meal.

4. Zoogeography. oriental.

5. Phytogeography. belonging or pertaining to a geographical division comprising India south of the Himalayas, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Indian British  

/ ˈɪndɪən /

noun

1. a native, citizen, or inhabitant of the Republic of India

2. old-fashioned a Native American

3. (not in scholarly usage) any of the languages of Native Americans

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of India, its inhabitants, or any of their languages

2. (Not in scholarly usage) of, relating to, or characteristic of Native Americans or any of their languages

Sensitive Note

Because Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed that the Caribbean island on which he had landed was the subcontinent of India, he called the inhabitants Indians. Eventually, that name was applied to almost all the Indigenous, non-European inhabitants of North and South America. In modern times Indian may refer to an inhabitant of the subcontinent of India or of the East Indies, to a citizen of the Republic of India, or to a member of an aboriginal American people. However, the term Indian is not applied to the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut of Arctic North America. In the 18th century the term American Indian came to be used for the aboriginal inhabitants of the United States and Canada; it now includes the aboriginal peoples of South America as well. (When necessary, further distinctions are made with such terms as North American Indian and South American Indian. ) The terms Amerindian and Amerind subsequently developed in the attempt to reduce ambiguity. The most recent designation, especially in North America, is Native American. American Indians themselves tend to favor the terms Indian, American Indian, or a specific tribal name. They sometimes refer to themselves collectively as Indian peoples. All these terms appear in edited writing. Whether one or several will gain ascendancy over the others remains to be seen. See Eskimo. See also honest Injun, Indian giver.

Other Word Forms

• anti-Indian adjective
• non-Indian adjective
• pre-Indian noun
• pro-Indian adjective
• pseudo-Indian adjective
• trans-Indian adjective

Etymology

Origin of Indian

First recorded in 1350–1400; from Medieval Latin Indiānus; replacing Middle English Indien, from Old French, from Medieval Latin as above; see India, -an

Example Sentences

In Boston, 10 Indian nationals were indicted by a grand jury this month and charged with staging robberies at convenience stores to secure U visas.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, was arrested by Indian authorities in 2017, just weeks after his wedding in the country, and has been detained there ever since.

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026

The “Wander” guide maps out the division of the space into four regions correlating to bodies of water: the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

As soon as the war began, Indian authorities worried about the fate of cooking gas—or LPG—a blend of propane and butane that is widely used by most Indians.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

Chief Opechancanough did mount one more large attack on the settlers, in 1644, but by then the European population had grown and the Indian population had been decimated.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone