designating or of a widespread family of over twenty languages spoken by North American Indian peoples, including the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Ojibwa, Fox, Shawnee, Abenaki, and Delaware
Origin:
< Algonquin: coined (1891) by J. W. Powell
noun
this family of languages
a member of a people speaking any of these languages
See Algonquian in American Heritage Dictionary 4
nounpl.Algonquian or Al·gon·qui·ans also Algonkian or Al·gon·ki·ans
A family of North American Indian languages spoken or formerly spoken in an area from Labrador to the Carolinas between the Atlantic coast and the Rocky Mountains.
A member of a people traditionally speaking an Algonquian language.