Navajo
/ˈnæv.ə.hoʊ/noun
A member of the indigenous people of the Southwestern United States, primarily in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.
Did you know?The term 'Navajo' originates from the Tewa word 'navahu' meaning 'fields of the large planted area', linking the people to their ancestral agricultural lands.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Uto-Aztecan
Uto-Aztecan
*nava
“large area or field”
Tewa
Tewa
navahu
“place of cultivated land”
Spanish Colonial
Spanish
Navajo
“applied to the indigenous people, originally referred to as 'the horse people' due to their animal husbandry”
19th Century
English
Navajo
“adopted from Spanish, reflecting their identity as a distinct tribe”
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