Carib
/ˈkærɪb/noun
A member of an Indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles and parts of northern South America.
Did you know?European writers fused the name Carib with tales of cannibalism, helping spread the word into English as a byword for savagery, even though the people themselves had their own names and identities.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian
Indigenous
Kalinago / Carib
“The name used by or applied to Indigenous peoples of the Lesser Antilles and nearby mainland regions.”
1490s
Spanish
caribe
“A name recorded by Spaniards for the island people they encountered in the Caribbean.”
16th Century
French
caraïbe
“French form referring to the same Indigenous people.”
16th Century
English
Carib
“English adoption of the ethnonym for an Indigenous person of the Lesser Antilles.”
Modern English
English
Carib
“A member of the Carib peoples, or relating to them.”