Tohono O'odham

noun

To·​ho·​no O'odham tō-ˈhō-nō- How to pronounce Tohono O'odham (audio)
plural Tohono O'odham
: a member of an Indigenous people of southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico

Examples of Tohono O'odham in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The potential range of the bird includes Pima, Santa Cruz, Cochise and Yuma counties, though most of the observed nests are in the Altar Valley, northeast from Sasabe, as well as the Tohono O'odham Nation lands and Avra Valley. The Arizona Republic, 19 July 2023 The casino is going up on 110 acres of land that were taken into trust by the federal government for the Tohono O'odham Nation. Corina Vanek, The Arizona Republic, 5 Apr. 2023 Some reference natural history, such as nearby Sentinel Peak, once the site of a major Tohono O'odham village. Los Angeles Times, 26 Jan. 2023 Two years earlier, a few hundred miles to the south, astronomers and tribal guides from the surrounding Tohono O'odham nation had ridden on horseback to the top of Kitt Peak, exchanging Western and Indigenous star stories by a campfire at the summit. Joshua Sokol, Scientific American, 16 Sep. 2022 The University of Arizona -- which sits on lands once inhabited by the Pima, Yuman, Tohono O'odham, Navajo and Apache peoples -- received more than 143,000 acres as part of the Morrill Act and raised nearly $450,000 in endowment principal, according to High Country News data. Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 29 June 2022 The Tohono O'odham reservation, which covers an area larger than Rhode Island and Delaware, has no home delivery and only one post office. Michael Ritter, The Conversation, 1 July 2021 The desert oasis, which is home to endangered species like the Sonoyta pupfish and the mud turtle, is considered sacred to the Tohono O'odham and the Hia-Ced O'odham, with the springs' use dating back some 10,000 years. NBC News, 11 Nov. 2020

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Tohono O'odham.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

O'odham tóhono ʔóʔodham, literally, desert people

First Known Use

1987, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Tohono O'odham was in 1987

Dictionary Entries Near Tohono O'odham

Cite this Entry

“Tohono O'odham.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Tohono%20O%27odham. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.

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