iroquois means of or pertaining to the Iroquois confederacy, its people, language, or culture. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 75 out of 100.
iroquois is pronounced /ˈɪɹ.ə.kwɔɪ/.
Etymology
Attested in American English since the 1660s, from French Iroquois, Hiroquois (attested since the early 1600s). The ultimate origin is uncertain.
theories
Missionary Charles Arnaud derived it from Montagnais irno-kué (“terrible people”). Linguist Gordon Day notes that though no form irno "person" is attested, one is plausible (given iriniou and ilnu), but application to a non-Montagnais is unlikely, and kué is too short: the root is kwet-. Day finds support for a longer form kwedɛč ("an Iroquois", lit. "terrible, frightening person") in Pacifique's Micmac grammar, in "goetètjg", and sees "fairly good indications that the name [i.e. kwedɛč] was an ancient one for Iroquoian peoples generally", but then "irno kwedɛč" would awkwardly mean "a person, an Iroquois", which could not have been a us
adj
- Of or pertaining to the Iroquois confederacy, its people, language, or culture.
name
- Any of the languages of the Iroquois, belonging to the Iroquoian family of languages.
noun
- A member of a confederacy of (originally) five Native American (Indian) tribes: the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas.
- A kind of hairdo where both sides of the head are shaved, leaving only a stripe of hair in the middle.