Lenca

[ leng-kuh ]

noun

, plural Len·cas, (especially collectively) Len·ca

1. a member of an Indigenous people of El Salvador and central Honduras.
2. the language of the Lenca.

adjective

1. of or relating to the Lenca or their language.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Lenca¹

First recorded in 1850–55; from Lenca, a self-designation

Example Sentences

In 2016, environmentalist and indigenous leader Berta Caceres was assassinated in Honduras while fighting against the construction of a hydroelectric dam on her ancestral Lenca lands in western Honduras.

From Reuters

Environmentalist Berta Caceres was organizing to stop a hydroelectric dam's construction on lands of the indigenous Lenca people when she was shot dead in 2016.

From Reuters

Bertha Caceres, daughter of the slain activist, said she hopes a Dutch criminal probe could reveal "the faces of those whose money enabled the attacks against the Lenca people."

From Reuters

The dam would have flooded large areas of land and cut off the supply of water, food and medicine for hundreds of the indigenous Lenca people in western Honduras.

From BBC

The dam would have flooded large areas of land and cut off the supply of water, food and medicine for hundreds of the indigenous Lenca people.

From BBC