Mapuche
/mɑːˈpuːtʃeɪ/noun
A member of an Indigenous people of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, or the language they speak.
Did you know?Mapuche is an ethnonym from the Mapuche language itself, and scholars generally analyze it as mapu (“land”) + che (“people”), a plain but powerful self-name: “people of the land.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Mapuche
Mapuche
mapu + che
““land” + “people,” forming an ethnonym meaning “people of the land””
16th Century
Spanish
mapuche
“Spanish transcription of the indigenous self-name used for the people of south-central Chile”
19th Century
English
Mapuche
“English ethnonym for the Indigenous people and their language”
Modern English
English
Mapuche
“Current standard English name for the people, language, and related cultural identity”
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