kachina

[ kuh-chee-nuh ]

/ kəˈtʃi nə /

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noun

any of various ancestral spirits deified by the Hopi Indians and impersonated in religious rituals by masked dancers.

a Hopi religious ritual at which such masked dancers perform.

a masked dancer impersonating such a spirit at a Hopi religious ritual.

kachina doll.

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Also katcina, katchina.

Origin of kachina

1885–90; <Hopi ḳacína<Keresan (Santa Ana) k̉â˙cina (or a cognate word)

Words nearby kachina

Kabwe 1, Kabyle, kachang puteh, kachcha, Kachera, kachina, kachina doll, Kaczynski, Kadai, kadaitcha, Kádár

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use kachina in a sentence

The name of this Kachina was Hair Eater, and he was supposed to cut off the hair if he beat the boy, but he never did beat him.
The Unwritten Literature of the Hopi|Hattie Greene Lockett
This design closely resembles a pattern that is commonly embroidered upon the large white kachina, or ceremonial blankets.
A Study of Pueblo Architecture: Tusayan and Cibola|Victor Mindeleff and Cosmos Mindeleff
The ruins about Kishyuba, connected with the Kachina people, also belong to Tusayan.
Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895|Jesse Walter Fewkes

British Dictionary definitions for kachina

kachina

/ (kəˈtʃiːnə) /

noun

any of the supernatural beings believed by the Hopi Indians to be the ancestors of living humans

Word Origin for kachina

from Hopi qačina supernatural

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012