Mapuche

noun

Ma·​pu·​che mə-ˈpü-chē How to pronounce Mapuche (audio)
1
plural Mapuche or Mapuches : a member of an Indigenous people of southern Chile and Argentina
2
: the Araucanian language of the Mapuche

Examples of Mapuche in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Betsy Andrews falls for the hearty cuisine of the Indigenous Mapuche people in Chile's La Araucanía and Los Lagos regions. Betsy Andrews, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Dec. 2024 At this year’s Whitney Biennial, Even Better Than the Real Thing, in New York City, the Chilean Mapuche artist Sebastiana Calfuqueo filmed themself dragging a long trail of shiny blue fabric through the sacred Pehuén forest to a pool below a waterfall. Dean Kissick, Harper's Magazine, 2 Dec. 2024 Rooms also have fireplaces, handsome furnishings, and fluffy Mapuche blankets, on top of which poems by Pablo Neruda arrive each night along with chocolates. Mark Johanson, Robb Report, 30 Nov. 2024 Throughout the convention, the flag of the Mapuche people was often displayed, but not Chile’s national emblem. Andres Velasco, Foreign Affairs, 28 Sep. 2022 Similarly, Mapuche artist Seba Calfuqueo engages ancestral wisdom and themes of sustainability in her 3D animation, MAPU KUFÜLL (2020). Najha Zigbi-Johnson, ARTnews.com, 29 July 2024 For many Mapuche, this presents not solely a territorial dispute: The land is part of their cultural and spiritual identity. Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 18 Apr. 2024 In Chile, the indigenous Mapuche people had resisted Spain’s conquistadores, sometimes defeating them in battle. Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 6 June 2022 The horrors are bounteous, the narrative a bit disjointed; the Indigenous people, along with Segundo, who is half Mapuche, say little or are largely silent. Carolina A. Miranda, Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Mapuche mapuče, a self-designation, from mapu land + če people

First Known Use

1855, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of Mapuche was in 1855

Dictionary Entries Near Mapuche

Cite this Entry

“Mapuche.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Mapuche. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.

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