Cheyenne

See also: cheyenne

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French Cheyenne, from Dakota šahíyena, from Dakota šaia (“to speak incoherently”), from Dakota ša (“red”) and Dakota ya (“to speak”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃaɪˈæn/, /ʃaɪˈɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛn

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

Cheyenne (plural Cheyenne or Cheyennes)

1. A member of an indigenous people of the Great Plains in North America.
   • 2024, Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars, Harvill Secker, page 108:

     You will want to tell him that you are Cheyenne, that that is where you are from, that Cheyennes once, up near the Great Lakes, were agricultural people, and then followed the buffalo before running for their lives like the buffalo, and that your people, they were Cheyenne wherever they went, but instead you just say the word Cheyenne, with your hand over your heart, to which he will say the word Lakota with his hand over his heart.

Derived terms

• Cheyenne County

Translations

member of the Cheyenne people

• Cheyenne: Tsétsêhéstaestse, Tsitsistaists
• Czech: Čejen m
• Dakota: Šahíyena
• French: Cheyenne (fr) m or f
• Greek: Τσεγιέν (el) m or f (Tsegién)
• Lakota: Šahíyela
• Polish: Czejen (pl) m, Czejenka (pl) f
• Swedish: cheyenne (sv) c
• Unami: Shëlatihka

Proper noun

Cheyenne

1. An Algonquian language spoken by the Cheyenne people.
2. The capital and largest city of Wyoming, United States and the county seat of Laramie County; named for the people.
3. A river in the United States; flowing 295 miles from the confluence of the Antelope and Dry Fork creeks in Thunder Basin National Grassland, Wyoming into Lake Oahe, a reservoir of the Missouri River, at Mission Ridge, South Dakota.
4. A town, the county seat of Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, United States.
5. A female or male given name of modern American usage.

Derived terms

• Cheyenne Wells

Translations

language

• Armenian: շեյեն (hy) (šeyen)
• Cheyenne: Tsêhesenêstsestôtse
• Finnish: cheyenne (fi)
• Mapudungun: cheyenne dungun
• Russian: чейе́нн (čejjénn), шайе́нн m (šajjénn)
• Swedish: cheyenne (sv) n
• Taos: sayénuna

city in Wyoming

• Danish: Cheyenne
• German: Cheyenne (de)
• Greek: Τσεγιέν (el) f (Tsegién)
• Latin: Cheyenna
• Latvian: Šaiena f
• Russian: Чейе́нн (Čejjénn), Шайе́нн m (Šajjénn)

river in Wyoming and South Dakota

• Lakota: Wakpá Wašté

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Cheyenne terms

Further reading

• Ethnologue entry for Cheyenne, chy ⁠
• Cheyenne Dictionary
• Cheyenne Language Web Site
• Wikipedia Cheyenne language edition

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Dakota šahíyena.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛ.jɛn/ ~ /ʃe.jɛn/

Noun

Cheyenne m or f by sense (plural Cheyennes)

1. Cheyenne (member of the Cheyenne tribe)