Udehe
/uːˈdɛhə/noun
A member of an Indigenous Tungusic-speaking people traditionally living in the Sikhote-Alin region of the Russian Far East.
Did you know?Udehe is an English spelling of an Indigenous ethnonym also rendered Udege or Udeghe; its exact internal derivation is debated, so claims that it definitively means “forest people” should be treated cautiously.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-modern period
Udehe
Udehe
“Autonym of the Indigenous people now commonly known in English as the Udehe or Udege.”
18th–19th Century
Russian
удэхейцы
“Russian ethnonym for the Udehe people, formed in Russian from the group’s name.”
19th Century
Russian
удэгейцы
“A common Russian variant of the ethnonym, transliterated as Udege or Udeghe.”
19th–20th Century
English
Udege / Udeghe
“English transliterations used in ethnographic and geographical writing for the Indigenous people of the Russian Far East.”
Modern English
English
Udehe
“A modern English spelling that more closely reflects the community’s preferred self-designation in some contexts.”