Arawakan

American  

[ar-uh-wah-kuhn, -wak-uhn] / ˌær əˈwɑ kən, -ˈwæk ən /

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.

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adjective

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

Arawakan British  

/ ˌærəˈwækən /

noun

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

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adjective

1. of or relating to the peoples speaking these languages

Etymology

Origin of Arawakan

First recorded in 1905–10; Arawak + -an

Example Sentences

“Barbecue” comes from barbacoa, a word in the Arawakan language of the Caribbean for a wooden frame used for sleeping and for drying food, Tschann writes.

From New York Times • Mar. 9, 2023

“Barbecue” comes from barbacoa, a word in the Arawakan language of the Caribbean for a wooden frame used for sleeping on and for drying food, Tschann writes.

From New York Times • Mar. 7, 2023

Garifuna is an Arawakan language from Honduras and Belize, but also spoken by a diaspora in the United States.

From BBC • Dec. 16, 2012

Such are the Ipurina, the Paumari and the Yamamadi of the Purus valley, all grouped as Arawaks because they speak dialects of the Arawakan stock language.

From Man, Past and Present by Haddon, Alfred Court

These observers comprise the countless Brazilian aborigines in four main linguistic divisions, which in conformity with Powell's terminology may here be named the Cariban, Arawakan, Gesan and Tupi-Guaranian families.

From Man, Past and Present by Haddon, Alfred Court