Quechua(redirected from Qhichwa)
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Quech·ua(kĕch′wə, -wä′) or Quich·ua (kēch′-) also Kech·ua (kĕch′-)
n. pl. Quechua or Quech·uas or Quichua or Quich·uas also Kechua or Kech·uas
1. The Quechuan language of the Inca Empire, now widely spoken throughout the Andes highlands from southern Colombia to Chile.
a. A member of a South American Indian people originally having been part of the Inca Empire.
b. A member of a Quechuan-speaking people.
[Spanish, from Quechua (Cuzco dialect) qhichwa, temperate valley (originally used in Spanish to designate the language of one Quechua-speaking ethnic group inhabiting the temperate valleys of the Andes and later extended to other groups).]
npl -uas or -ua
1. (Peoples) a member of any of a group of South American Indian peoples of the Andes, including the Incas
2. (Languages) the language or family of languages spoken by these peoples, possibly distantly related to the Tupï-Guarani family
ˈQuechuan, ˈKechuan, ˈQuichuan adj, n
Quech•ua(ˈkɛtʃ wɑ, -wə)
n., pl. -uas, (esp. collectively) -ua for 2.
1. a group of closely related American Indian languages spoken in Andean South America, from S Colombia and Ecuador to NE Argentina.
2. the form of Quechua spoken in Cuzco and its environs that served as the administrative language of the Inca state.
3. an American Indian speaker of Quechua.
Quech′uan, adj., n.
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|Noun||1.||Quechua - a member of a South American Indian people in Peru who were formerly the ruling class of the Inca empire|
South American Indian - a member of a native Indian group in South America
|2.||Quechua - a community of South American Indians in Peru who were formerly the ruling class of the Incan Empire|
|3.||Quechua - the language of the Quechua which was spoken by the Incas|