Iroquois
/ˈɪr.ə.kwɔɪ/noun
A member of a confederacy of Native American peoples in northeastern North America, or the Iroquoian language family.
Did you know?The name entered European languages through French, but its exact origin is uncertain and disputed, so the real story is less “mystical secret” and more a reminder that colonial records often preserved outsider spellings, not native self-names.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian
Iroquoian
[self-designation(s) varied by nation]
“Names used by different Iroquoian peoples for themselves and their confederacies”
16th Century
French
Iroquois
“A French ethnonym for the Iroquoian-speaking peoples of northeastern North America”
17th Century
English
Iroquois
“Borrowed from French as the name of the people and their language family”
Modern English
English
Iroquois
“A member of the Iroquois peoples or, more broadly, the Iroquoian language family”
Explore more surprising origins