noun

Anasazi

ah-nuh-SAH-zee

noun

An older term for the Ancestral Puebloans, the Indigenous people who built the cliff dwellings of the American Southwest.

"The canyon’s cliff dwellings were built by the people once called the Anasazi."

How to Use Anasazi

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishAn older, now less-preferred name for the Ancestral Puebloan people.

Common mistake

"Ancestral Puebloan" is now generally preferred, since "Anasazi" comes from an outside (Navajo) term rather than the people’s own name.

Anasazis plural, Anasazi plural

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The canyon’s cliff dwellings were built by the people once called the _____.

From Navajo anaasazi, roughly "ancient enemy" — a name given by a neighbouring people rather than the group’s own name for itself.

Nazi Benghazi