Cherokee Language Dictionary

The Cherokee language is named after its people, the Cherokee nation. It is a member of the Iroquoian language family, and it is the only Southern tribal language of this group that is still used.

The Cherokee language is associated with the South because its speakers reside in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Oklahoma, although it is believed that the Cherokee originally hailed from the Great Lakes.

Most people know of the Cherokee by way of the Trail of Tears. Basically, it was the American enforcement of relocation for all Native American tribes in the 1800s. Countless Cherokees died during this process.

The Cherokee language is a speech rich in syllabary, but you may be surprised to learn that it does not have values for the English letters "p" and "b". The consonant "m" is also a recent. Some symbols of the language look like Latin letters (but don't sound anything like them), and whereas the English alphabet only has six vowels, the Cherokee language boasts twelve, both short and long. The Cherokee alphabet or syllabary has a total of eighty-five character strings.