Arawakan

[ ar-uh-wah-kuhn, -wak-uhn ]

noun

1. a family of numerous languages that developed in ancient South America and spread north to Central America and to islands in the Caribbean and Atlantic.
2. a member of the Arawak or related Indigenous people who speak, or once spoke, these languages.

adjective

1. of or belonging to this language family or its speakers or to the Arawak.

Arawakan

/ ˌærəˈwækən /

noun

1. a family of American Indian languages found throughout NE South America

adjective

1. of or relating to the peoples speaking these languages

Word History and Origins

Origin of Arawakan¹

First recorded in 1905–10; Arawak + -an

Example Sentences

In the east also there are evidences of the influence of Arawakan culture from the West Indies.

From Project Gutenberg

In the languages of this region there are to be detected perhaps a few loan-words from Arawakan or Cariban dialects.

From Project Gutenberg