apaches
|a-pach-es|
🇺🇸
/əˈpætʃiz/
🇬🇧
/əˈpætʃɪz/
(apache)
Native American tribe (Southwest)
Etymology
'apaches' originates from Spanish (as the ethnonym 'Apaches'), ultimately reflecting an indigenous term (possibly from Zuni or a related language) recorded by Spanish speakers to name that group; in French the borrowed form 'apache' came to be used for a ruffian.
'apaches' entered English both as the plural of the ethnonym from Spanish 'Apaches' and via French 'apache' (late 19th / early 20th century) meaning 'hoodlum'; later usages extended the name to machines and products (e.g., helicopters, software) named 'Apache'.
Initially it meant 'member of the Apache peoples' (an ethnonym); in French it developed a secondary meaning 'ruffian/hoodlum', and English preserved both senses while the name was later applied metaphorically to technology and vehicles.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
plural of 'Apache': members of the Apache peoples, a group of Native American tribes of the Southwestern United States.
Many apaches lived in the canyons and plains long before European settlers arrived.
Synonyms
Noun 2
(historical, from French) Parisian street ruffians or gang members — used in early 20th-century journalism and popular culture.
In early 1900s Paris, apaches were often portrayed in sensational newspaper stories.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/09/14 07:14