Tepehuan
/ˌtɛpəˈwɑːn/noun
A member of an Indigenous people of northern Mexico, or the Uto-Aztecan language they speak.
Did you know?Tepehuan is an exonym recorded through Spanish from an Indigenous self-designation built on a Mesoamerican root for “mountain,” so the name itself preserves a geography of belonging.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian Nahuatl
Nah
tepetl
“mountain”
Pre-Columbian Indigenous usage
Uto-Aztecan
tepehuan
“people associated with the mountains”
16th Century
Spanish
tepehuán
“name recorded by Spanish chroniclers for the Indigenous people and region”
Modern English
English
Tepehuan
“an Indigenous people of northern Mexico or their language”