Shawnee

[ shaw-nee ]
/ ʃɔˈni /

noun, plural Shaw·nees, (especially collectively) Shaw·nee.

a member of an Algonquian-speaking tribe formerly in the east-central U.S., now in Oklahoma.
the Algonquian language of the Shawnee tribe.
a town in E Kansas.
a city in central Oklahoma.

Origin of Shawnee

1720–30, Americanism; back formation from earlier Shawnese, Shawanese (construed as plural), reshaping (with -ese) of earlier Shawanoes (plural) < Munsee Delaware šá·wano·w (singular) < Shawnee ša·wano·ki Shawnees, literally, people of the south

Example sentences from the Web for shawnees

British Dictionary definitions for shawnees

Shawnee
/ (ʃɔːˈniː) /

noun

plural -nees or -nee a member of a North American Indian people formerly living along the Tennessee River
the language of this people, belonging to the Algonquian family

Word Origin for Shawnee

C20: back formation from obsolete Shawnese, from Shawnee Shaawanwaaki people of the south, from shaawanawa south

Cultural definitions for shawnees

Shawnees
[ (shaw-neez) ]

A tribe of Native Americans who inhabited Ohio, Indiana, and other parts of the Middle West during the early nineteenth century. The most famous Shawnee leader was Tecumseh, who joined with the British against the Americans during the War of 1812.