Navajo

or Nav·a·ho

[ nav-uh-hoh, nah-vuh- ]

noun

, plural Nav·a·jos, Nav·a·joes, (especially collectively) Nav·a·jo

1. Also called Diné. a member of the most populous nation of the southern division of Athabascan Native Americans, located in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, and now constituting the largest tribal group in the United States.
2. the Athabascan language of the Navajo.

adjective

1. Also . of, relating to, or characteristic of the Navajo, their language, or their culture:

   a Navajo blanket.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Navajo¹

First recorded in 1800–10; from American Spanish Apaches de Nabajú “Apaches of Nabajú” (Navajo and several Apachean languages are mutually intelligible), originally a place name applied to the Largo Canyon region of the Four Corners area of northwest New Mexico, from Tewa navahu “large arroyo with cultivated fields”; Diné ( def )

Example Sentences

Krystal Tsosie is a Navajo bioethicist and geneticist at Vanderbilt University.

From MIT Technology Review

Right now, the Navajo-style wide-brim hats in the Thunder Voice store are all sold out, but their handmade cotton masks are still in stock.

From Popular-Science

In Navajo, men turn to their women on what needs to happen, what happens on a day-to-day basis, because the women took care of the house, the kids, and all the men did was go out to gather and hunt.

From Vox

The state’s Native population, which includes Navajo and Pueblo tribes, has had it even worse.

From Vox

Months of curfews brought the virus under control, but Nez and other Navajo leaders feared in-person education would risk another outbreak.

From ProPublica

Navajo Nation once took Urban Outfitters to court for trademark infringement.

From The Daily Beast

Currently Cherokee, Hawaiian, Inuktitut, Inupiaq, Kalaallisut, and Navajo are supported.

From The Daily Beast

Start your journey at Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, the dramatic backdrop for countless Hollywood Westerns.

From The Daily Beast

Elizabeth Raitz-Cowboy, an Aetna medical director, said her husband is a full-blooded Navajo.

From The Daily Beast

So we bought one of those tours that combines a Jeep ride with a Navajo guide and a horseback ride.

From The Daily Beast

Perchance he is living with them to-day on the Navajo reservation.

From Project Gutenberg

Both are of Navajo importation, by which tribe they are much prized and used.

From Project Gutenberg

As the Navajo obeyed the rat blew a strong breath on the hole, which at once opened wide enough to let the visitor in.

From Project Gutenberg

So, taking a tanned elk skin to cover his back and a pair of new moccasins to protect his feet, the Navajo set out from the cave.

From Project Gutenberg

The tsintso is made of cherry, which grows only on high mountains in the Navajo country.

From Project Gutenberg