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Cherokee.

A member of an indigenous North American people.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˌt͡ʃɛ.ɹəˈkiː/

  1. A member of an indigenous North American people.

Where this word comes from

Most likely from the Cherokee autonym ᏣᎳᎩ (tsalagi). Derivation from a Choctaw exonym meaning "those who live in caves" (compare chiluk (“cave”)) has also been suggested — the Iroquois term for the Cherokee was Oyata'ge'ronon (“inhabitants of the cave country”) — as has derivation from a Creek term for "person(s) who speak(s) a non-Creek language" (see celokketv (“to speak a non-creek language”)). Regardless of its origin, the ethnonym entered European languages at an early date, perhaps as early as the 1670s; in Spanish, the people are called the Tchalaquei as early as 1755.

name/ˌt͡ʃɛ.ɹəˈkiː/

  1. An indigenous North American people.

  2. Their Iroquoian language, spoken in Oklahoma and North Carolina.

  3. A syllabary for the Cherokee language invented by Sequoyah.

  4. A town in Colbert County, Alabama.

  5. Cherokee Village, Arkansas.

  6. A census-designated place in Butte County, California.

  7. A former gold mining settlement in Nevada County, California.

  8. A city, the county seat of Cherokee County, Iowa.

  9. A city in Crawford County, Kansas.

  10. A census-designated place in Swain County and Jackson County, North Carolina, capital of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

  11. An unincorporated community in Logan County, Ohio.

  12. A city, the county seat of Alfalfa County, Oklahoma.

  13. An unincorporated community in Grainger County, Tennessee.

  14. An unincorporated community in San Saba County, Texas.

  15. An unincorporated community in McDowell County, West Virginia.

  16. An unincorporated community in Hull, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

  17. A locality in the Shire of Macedon Ranges, central Victoria, Australia.

  18. Ellipsis of Cherokee County.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
Where this word comes from

Most likely from the Cherokee autonym ᏣᎳᎩ (tsalagi). Derivation from a Choctaw exonym meaning "those who live in caves" (compare chiluk (“cave”)) has also been suggested — the Iroquois term for the Cherokee was Oyata'ge'ronon (“inhabitants of the cave country”) — as has derivation from a Creek term for "person(s) who speak(s) a non-Creek language" (see celokketv (“to speak a non-creek language”)). Regardless of its origin, the ethnonym entered European languages at an early date, perhaps as early as the 1670s; in Spanish, the people are called the Tchalaquei as early as 1755.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.