pl.Cherokees or Cherokee a member of a North American Indian people formerly inhabiting a large area of the S Appalachian Mountains, now living in Oklahoma and North Carolina
the Iroquoian language of this people
Origin:
< extinct dial. form of Cherokee tsalaki, a self-designation
a. A Native American people formerly inhabiting the southern Appalachian Mountains from the western Carolinas and eastern Tennessee to northern Georgia, with present-day populations in northeast Oklahoma and western North Carolina. The Cherokee were removed to Indian Territory in the 1830s after conflict with American settlers over rights to traditional lands.