O'odham
/ˈoʔoðam/noun
An Indigenous Uto-Aztecan people of southern Arizona and northern Sonora, and the language they speak.
Did you know?O'odham is an endonym from the people’s own language, and its meaning “the people” is a powerful reminder that many names we treat as “tribal labels” are actually acts of self-definition.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Uto-Aztecan
PUA
*oʔo
“likely ancestral form related to person/people in the branch’s deeper history”
O'odham language
O'odham
o'odham
“the people; human beings”
19th Century
English
Papago / Pima
“exonyms used by outsiders for O'odham peoples”
20th Century
English
Tohono O'odham / Akimel O'odham
“self-designations meaning “Desert People” / “River People””
Modern English
English
O'odham
“the accepted self-name for the people and their language”