Sioux
[ soo ]
/ su /
noun, plural Sioux [soo, sooz] /su, suz/.
Origin of Sioux
1755–65,
Americanism; < North American French, shortening of earlier
Nadouessioux < Ojibwa (Ottawa dial.)
na·towe·ssiw(ak) plural (< Proto-Algonquian
*na·towe·hsiw-, derivative of
*na·towe·wa Iroquoian, probably literally, speaker of a foreign language) + French
-x plural marker
Example sentences from the Web for sioux
British Dictionary definitions for sioux
Sioux
/ (suː) /
noun
plural Sioux (suː, suːz)
a member of a group of North American Indian peoples formerly ranging over a wide area of the Plains from Lake Michigan to the Rocky Mountains
any of the Siouan languages
Word Origin for Sioux
from French, shortened from
Nadowessioux, from Chippewa
Nadoweisiw
Cultural definitions for sioux
Sioux
[ (sooh) ]
A common name for the Dakota people, a tribe of Native Americans inhabiting the northern Great Plains in the nineteenth century. They were famed as warriors and frequently took up arms in the late nineteenth century to oppose the settlement of their hunting grounds and sacred places. In 1876, Sioux warriors, led by Chief Sitting Bull, and commanded in the field by Chief Crazy Horse, overwhelmed the United States cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. (See Custer's last stand.) A group of Sioux under Chief Big Foot were massacred by United States troops at Wounded Knee in 1890.