Caribe
/ˈkærɪb/noun
A member of an Indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles; also used historically for the Caribbean Sea and related regional names.
Did you know?The European word *cannibal* was shaped by early reports about the Caribs, showing how a people’s name could be twisted into a monster word in colonial imagination.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian
Arawakan
kari'na / karibna
“An Indigenous ethnonym, often associated with the Carib people of the Lesser Antilles.”
1490s
Spanish
Caribe
“The name recorded by Spaniards for the Carib peoples of the Caribbean islands.”
16th Century
French
Caraïbe
“Used for the islands, sea, and peoples of the Caribbean region.”
17th Century
English
Carib / Caribbean
“Used in English for the people and the surrounding sea and islands.”
Modern English
English
Caribe
“A variant form used in some contexts as a regional or ethnographic name.”