INDIAN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Indian mean? 

• INDIAN (noun)
  The noun INDIAN has 2 senses:

1. a native or inhabitant of India

2. any of the languages spoken by Amerindians

  Familiarity information: INDIAN used as a noun is rare.

• INDIAN (adjective)
  The adjective INDIAN has 2 senses:

1. of or relating to or characteristic of India or the East Indies or their peoples or languages or cultures

2. of or pertaining to Native Americans or their culture or languages

  Familiarity information: INDIAN used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INDIAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A native or inhabitant of India

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Indian" is a kind of...):

Asian; Asiatic (a native or inhabitant of Asia)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Indian"):

jawan ((India) a private soldier or male constable)

Bohemian; Gipsy; Gypsy; Roma; Romani; Romany; Rommany (a member of a people with dark skin and hair who speak Romany and who traditionally live by seasonal work and fortunetelling; they are believed to have originated in northern India but now are living on all continents (but mostly in Europe, North Africa, and North America))

Mahratta; Maratha (a member of a people of India living in Maharashtra)

Panjabi; Punjabi (a member of the people of Pakistan and Punjab)

Oriya (a member of a people in India living in Orissa and neighboring areas)

Kashmiri (a member of the people of Kashmir)

Gujarati; Gujerati (a member of the people of Gujarat)

Dravidian (a member of one of the aboriginal inhabitants of India)

Assamese (native or inhabitant of the state of Assam in northeastern India)

Holonyms ("Indian" is a member of...):

Bharat; India; Republic of India (a republic in the Asian subcontinent in southern Asia; second most populous country in the world; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of the languages spoken by Amerindians

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

American-Indian language; American Indian; Amerind; Amerindian language; Indian

Hypernyms ("Indian" is a kind of...):

natural language; tongue (a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Indian"):

Atakapa; Atakapan; Attacapa; Attacapan (a language spoken by the Atakapa of the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas)

Penutian (a family of Amerindian language spoken in the great interior valley of California)

Hoka; Hokan (a family of Amerindian languages spoken in California)

Tanoan; Tanoan language (a family of North American Indian language spoken in southwestern United States)

Siouan; Siouan language (a family of North American Indian languages spoken by the Sioux)

Maya; Mayan; Mayan language (a family of American Indian languages spoken by Mayas)

Uto-Aztecan; Uto-Aztecan language (a family of American Indian languages)

Carib; Caribbean language (the family of languages spoken by the Carib)

Arawak; Arawakan (a family of South American Indian languages spoken in northeastern South America)

Tupi-Guarani; Tupi-Guarani language (a family of South American Indian languages)

Kechua; Kechuan; Quechua; Quechuan; Quechuan language (the language of the Quechua which was spoken by the Incas)

Iroquoian; Iroquoian language; Iroquois (a family of North American Indian languages spoken by the Iroquois)

Caddo; Caddoan; Caddoan language (a family of North American Indian languages spoken widely in the Midwest by the Caddo)

Mosan (a family of Amerindian languages spoken in Washington and British Columbia)

Na-Dene (a family of North American Indian languages)

Muskhogean; Muskhogean language; Muskogean; Muskogean language (a family of North American Indian languages spoken in the southeastern United States)

Athabascan; Athabaskan; Athapascan; Athapaskan; Athapaskan language (a group of Amerindian languages (the name coined by an American anthropologist, Edward Sapir))

Algonquian; Algonquian language; Algonquin (family of North American Indian languages spoken from Labrador to South Carolina and west to the Great Plains)

Maracan language; Maraco (the language spoken by the Maraco)

• INDIAN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to or characteristic of India or the East Indies or their peoples or languages or cultures

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

Indian saris

Pertainym:

India (a republic in the Asian subcontinent in southern Asia; second most populous country in the world; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947)

Derivation:

India (a republic in the Asian subcontinent in southern Asia; second most populous country in the world; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1947)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or pertaining to Native Americans or their culture or languages

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

Amerind; Amerindic; Indian; Native American

Context example:

Indian arrowheads

Pertainym:

Native American (any member of the peoples living in North or South America before the Europeans arrived)

 Context examples 

It was the brief Indian Summer of the high latitudes.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Yes, young Daulat Ras, an Indian student, who lives on the same stair, came in to ask me some particulars about the examination.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The lessons were not tender that he had learned of their tyranny and cruelty in the days of the Indian villages.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“Surprisingly, the tested Indian antivenom also poorly neutralised the venom of the northern population of the common krait, one of the ‘big four’ against which it is produced,” Sunagar says.

(‘India needs region-specific snakebite antivenoms’, SciDev.Net)

Researchers also looked at the effect of the Indian Ocean Dipole, or Indian Niño, and other climate patterns on crops.

(El Niño linked to widespread crop failures, SciDev.Net)

Lord John had shot an ajouti—which is a small, pig-like animal—and, half of it having been given to the Indians, we were cooking the other half upon our fire.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Around 500 million people, or more than two-thirds of the Indian population, are now affected by deficiencies in protein and micronutrients such as iron, zinc, and vitamin A.

(Course grains better than rice for health, environment, SciDev.Net)

Currently there are two sanctuaries—one in the Indian Ocean, and another one around Antarctica.

(Brazil to support South Atlantic whale sanctuary bid, Agência BRASIL)

On a beautiful fall day, a day of similar Indian summer to that which had seen their love declared the year before, Martin read his "Love-cycle" to Ruth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I had fifty hands onboard; and my orders were, that I should trade with the Indians in the South-Sea, and make what discoveries I could.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)