n., pl., Cherokee, or -kees.
- 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.
- A member of this people.
- The Iroquoian language of the Cherokee.
[From Cherokee tsalaki.]
Cherokee Cher'o·kee' adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
