Lasting Words — Global Edition

42 words in your mouth
every day. You don't know
where they came from.

Chocolate. Safari. Kayak. Boomerang. Jaguar. Wiki. Curry. Zombie. Every one of these words was borrowed from an Indigenous language — from the Arctic to the Andes, West Africa to the Pacific, Southeast Asia to the South Indian coast.

Some of those languages have millions of speakers today. Others have fewer than 200. Three are extinct — yet their words are used by billions every day.

qajaq

KAH-yak

Vulnerable

→kayak

Inuit· Inuktitut · ~65,000 speakers

Engineered for Arctic seal hunting. A design so perfect it became a global sport. Used in over 40 languages worldwide, all borrowed from Inuktitut.

iglu

IG-loo

Vulnerable

→igloo

Inuit· Inuktitut · ~65,000 speakers

In Inuktitut, iglu means any home. Western use narrowed it to mean only the snow dome. Maintained near 0°C inside at -40°C outside.

makizin

mah-kih-ZIN

Endangered

→moccasin

Ojibwe (Anishinaabe)· Anishinaabemowin · ~50,000 speakers

Not one style but hundreds — each nation designed moccasins for local terrain. Over 300 million moccasin-style shoes sold worldwide annually.

pimîhkân

pih-MEE-kan

Vulnerable

→pemmican

Cree· Nêhiyawêwin · ~96,000 speakers

Dried meat, rendered fat, dried berries — lasts years without refrigeration. Powered the entire North American fur trade economy. The original energy bar.

thípi

TEE-pee

Endangered

→tipi

Lakota (Sioux)· Lakȟótiyapi · ~2,000 speakers

Assembled in 20 minutes, disassembled in 5. Lakota women owned the tipi — they built it and decided when to move it.

hooghan

HOH-gahn

Vulnerable

→hogan

Diné (Navajo)· Diné bizaad · ~170,000 speakers

Navajo is the most widely spoken Indigenous language in the US. The Navajo Nation spans an area larger than Ireland.

canoa

kah-NOH-ah

Extinct

→canoe

Taino (Arawak)· Caribbean · Extinct as spoken language

Taino also gave English: hammock, barbecue, hurricane, tobacco. Extinct as a spoken tongue — yet their words shape daily life worldwide.

hamaka

hah-MAH-kah

Extinct

→hammock

Taino (Arawak)· Caribbean

Columbus observed Taino sleeping in hanging nets in 1492. European navies adopted them within decades. The Spanish navy mandated hammocks in 1597.

Huracán

hur-ah-KAN

Extinct

→hurricane

Taino· Caribbean

Huracán was the Taino god of wind, storm, and fire. Columbus first heard the word during a storm off Hispaniola in 1494. The most destructive storms on earth still carry this name.

chocolatl

CHO-koh-latl

Vulnerable

→chocolate

Aztec (Mexica)· Nahuatl · ~1.7 million speakers

One of the most valuable words ever borrowed. Nahuatl speakers cultivated cacao for thousands of years. Every chocolate bar in the world carries a Nahuatl word.

tomatl

TOH-matl

Vulnerable

→tomato

Aztec (Mexica)· Nahuatl · ~1.7 million speakers

Cultivated in Mexico for thousands of years. Europeans initially feared it was poisonous. It now defines Italian, Spanish, and Indian cuisine worldwide.

ahuacatl

ah-WAH-katl

Vulnerable

→avocado

Aztec (Mexica)· Nahuatl · ~1.7 million speakers

Cultivated in Mesoamerica for 5,000 years. Global avocado consumption exceeds 8 billion pounds per year — the fruit and its name originated with the Aztec.

chilli

CHIL-ee

Vulnerable

→chilli

Aztec (Mexica)· Nahuatl · ~1.7 million speakers

Chilli peppers were cultivated for 6,000 years before any European tasted them. Today fundamental to Mexican, Indian, Korean, Thai, and Ethiopian cuisines simultaneously.

sik'ar

see-KAR

Vulnerable

→cigar

Maya· Yucatec Maya · ~800,000 speakers

The Maya cultivated and smoked tobacco in ritual and ceremony for centuries. The Maya civilization is one of the most sophisticated in human history — their descendants still speak Yucatec Maya today.

coyotl

KOY-oht

Vulnerable

→coyote

Aztec (Mexica)· Nahuatl · ~1.7 million speakers

The coyote is the Trickster in mythologies of dozens of nations — clever, adaptable, impossible to eliminate. Now living in every major US city, its name still Nahuatl.

llama

YAH-mah

Vulnerable

→llama

Quechua (Inca descendants)· Runasimi · ~8-10 million speakers

Quechua is one of the most widely spoken Indigenous languages on earth. The Inca Empire used llamas across 4,000 km of the Andes as primary pack animals.

puma

POO-mah

Vulnerable

→puma

Quechua· Runasimi · ~8-10 million speakers

The puma was sacred to the Inca — Cusco was designed in the shape of a puma from above. The sportswear brand PUMA (founded 1948) is named after this Quechua word.

kuntur

KON-dor

Vulnerable

→condor

Quechua· Runasimi · ~8-10 million speakers

The condor represents power in Andean cosmology. With a 3.3-metre wingspan, it is the largest flying bird in the world. Its Quechua name has been used in anthems, airlines, and national symbols across South America.

kinwa

KEEN-wah

Vulnerable

→quinoa

Quechua· Runasimi · ~8-10 million speakers

Sacred grain of the Inca, cultivated for 5,000 years at high altitude. Now marketed globally as a 'superfood' while some Andean communities can no longer afford their own grain due to export demand.

ch'arki

CHAR-kee

Vulnerable

→jerky

Quechua· Runasimi · ~8-10 million speakers

The Inca developed freeze-drying technology at altitude millennia before modern food science. Ch'arki lasted years. The modern jerky industry is built on Quechua knowledge.

yaguara

yah-GWAH-rah

Healthy

→jaguar

Guaraní· Guaraní · ~6-7 million speakers · official language of Paraguay

Guaraní is one of the few Indigenous languages that is co-official in a nation (Paraguay). Around 90% of Paraguayans speak it. The car brand Jaguar is named after the Guaraní word for 'beast who kills in one leap.'

acajú

ah-kah-ZHOO

Endangered

→cashew

Tupí· Tupí-Guaraní · active dialects

Native to northeastern Brazil. Tupí people cultivated it long before European contact. The toxic cashew shell (containing the same compound as poison ivy) was known to Indigenous peoples millennia before Western chemistry confirmed it.

tipi'óka

tap-ee-OH-kah

Endangered

→tapioca

Tupí· Tupí-Guaraní · active dialects

From cassava — domesticated in Brazil 10,000 years ago. Tupí processing techniques to remove the toxic cyanide from cassava were sophisticated knowledge. Cassava now feeds over 500 million people worldwide.

safari

sah-FAH-ree

Healthy

→safari

Swahili (Waswahili)· Kiswahili · 200 million+ speakers

Swahili is the most widely spoken African language and a United Nations official language. 'Safari' means journey. The global safari tourism industry is worth $35 billion annually — built on a Swahili word.

ubuntu

oo-BOON-too

Healthy

→ubuntu

Zulu / Nguni peoples· isiZulu · 12 million+ speakers

'I am because we are' — a Southern African philosophy of shared humanity. Used by Mandela, adopted by the Ubuntu operating system, and embraced as a global concept for community and interconnection.

i-mpala

im-PAH-lah

Healthy

→impala

Zulu· isiZulu · 12 million+ speakers

One of Africa's most numerous antelopes. Chevrolet named the Impala (1958–present) after it for grace and speed. In Zulu, the 'i-' particle marks it as a noun — the car drives around with Zulu grammar built into its name.

banana

bah-NAH-nah

Healthy

→banana

Wolof· Wolof · 5 million+ speakers

The word entered Portuguese via West African trade, almost certainly from Wolof 'banana.' From Portuguese it spread to all European languages. The banana is now the world's most consumed fruit, carrying a West African word.

nzumbe

ZOM-bee

Healthy

→zombie

Kongo people· Kikongo · 7 million+ speakers

A spirit of the dead in Kongo religious tradition, carried to Haiti by enslaved Kongo people. Hollywood adopted it in the 1930s. The $7 billion zombie entertainment industry traces its entire vocabulary to Kikongo.

vodun

VOH-doo

Healthy

→voodoo

Fon and Ewe peoples· Fon-Gbe / Ewe · Fon: 2M, Ewe: 7M speakers

Vodun is a living religion practiced by millions in West Africa and the Caribbean — not the Hollywood caricature. The Benin government recognizes Vodun as an official religion. The word 'voodoo' caricatures a profound spiritual tradition.

kivili-chimpenze

chim-PAN-zee

Healthy

→chimpanzee

Tshiluba / Kongo· Tshiluba · 6.3 million speakers, DRC

Our closest genetic relatives — 98.7% shared DNA — are named in Tshiluba, a major language of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The name for the species that helped us understand human evolution is Central African in origin.

gangurru

gang-GOO-roo

Endangered

→kangaroo

Guugu Yimithirr· Queensland, Australia · ~200 speakers

Captain Cook's crew heard 'gangurru' in 1770. The myth that it means 'I don't understand' is false — linguists confirmed it is the genuine word for grey kangaroo. Guugu Yimithirr is now critically endangered.

bu-mar-ang

BOO-mer-ang

Dormant

→boomerang

Dharuk (Eora)· Sydney area, Australia · Revitalization underway

The Dharuk people lived on the land that is now Sydney. A sophisticated aerodynamic tool requiring deep understanding of physics. The word survives in every language while the language that created it is being revitalized.

guuguubarra

KOO-kuh-bur-ah

Endangered

→kookaburra

Wiradjuri· New South Wales · ~150 speakers

The kookaburra's laughing call is described onomatopoeically in Wiradjuri. Its call opens every ABC radio broadcast — the name is Wiradjuri.

kiwi

KEE-wee

Endangered — revitalization

→kiwi

Māori· Te Reo Māori · 170,000 speakers · New Zealand

Māori named the flightless bird after its cry. New Zealanders adopted 'kiwi' as their national identity. Te Reo Māori is an official language of New Zealand in active revitalization with Māori-medium schools.

haka

HAH-kah

Endangered — revitalization

→haka

Māori· Te Reo Māori · 170,000 speakers

A ceremonial dance of challenge, welcome, and solidarity — not just the All Blacks' pre-match ritual. Each haka is a poem of specific cultural meaning, brought into living rooms worldwide.

wikiwiki

WEE-kee-WEE-kee

Endangered — revitalization

→wiki

Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian)· ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi · 24,000 speakers

'Wiki' means fast in Hawaiian. Ward Cunningham named the first collaborative website WikiWikiWeb in 1995 after a Honolulu airport shuttle. The internet has trillions of wiki pages. One Indigenous word runs the world's largest encyclopedia.

māṅkāy

MANG-oh

Classical language

→mango

Tamil people· Tamil · 80 million+ speakers

Tamil is one of the world's longest continuously surviving classical languages — over 2,000 years of recorded literature. 'Māṅkāy' became 'manga' in Portuguese and 'mango' in English. Tamil literature predates the Roman Empire.

kari

KAH-ree

Classical language

→curry

Tamil people· Tamil · 80 million+ speakers

British colonisers compressed the entire complex cuisine of South Asia into this single word, losing enormous specificity. Tamil cuisine has been continuously sophisticated for over 2,000 years. The UK's most popular dish carries a Tamil word.

kaṭṭumaram

kata-ma-RAN

Classical language

→catamaran

Tamil people· Tamil · 80 million+ speakers

'Kaṭṭu' (tied) + 'maram' (wood). Tamil fishermen used tied-log rafts for millennia. European sailors adopted the design. Modern catamarans are used globally — the design and the word are both from Tamil fishing culture.

orang utan

oh-RANG-oo-TAN

Healthy

→orangutan

Malay people· Bahasa Melayu · 20M native, 270M+ total

'Orang' (person) + 'utan' (forest) = person of the forest. Malay people named our red-haired relatives with profound accuracy. Orangutans share 97% of human DNA. Both the word and the species are threatened by deforestation.

amuk

ah-MOK

Healthy

→amok

Malay people· Bahasa Melayu · 20M+ native speakers

Malay physicians documented this dissociative psychological state long before Western psychiatry named it. 'Running amok' entered English from Malay sailors encountered by Europeans in the 1600s. It remains a clinical term in transcultural psychiatry today.

gong

GONG

Healthy

→gong

Javanese / Malay peoples· Javanese · 98 million+ speakers

Central to gamelan — the orchestral tradition of Java and Bali, one of the world's most sophisticated musical systems. Javanese gamelan influenced Debussy and Steve Reich. The word is onomatopoeic — it sounds like what it means.

Many of these languages are still spoken today.

The words above didn't come from dead civilizations. They came from living peoples — some with millions of active speakers, others fighting to keep their language alive in the face of generations of suppression. Here is where each stands.

Explore the full Indigenous Americas culture pack — trivia, traditions and stories from Inuit, Ojibwe, Cree, Lakota, Navajo, Mi'kmaq, Haudenosaunee and Taino nations.

Healthy or thriving — 11 languages

Still strong

Millions of speakers, intergenerational transmission, institutional support.

SwahiliTamilGuaraníMalayJavaneseNahuatlZuluWolof

Endangered or vulnerable — 12 languages

At risk — but fighting

Declining speaker numbers, revitalization underway. Te Reo Māori, Hawaiian, Quechua, Inuktitut, Ojibwe, Lakota.

Te Reo MāoriHawaiianQuechuaInuktitutOjibweLakota

Extinct or dormant — 3 languages

Words without voices

Taino, Powhatan, and Narragansett no longer have native speakers — yet their words are in daily use worldwide.

TainoPowhatanNarragansett

42 words in your mouthevery day. You don't knowwhere they came from.

Many of these languages are still spoken today.

Still strong

At risk — but fighting

Words without voices

Hear every word in its original language.

42 words in your mouth
every day. You don't know
where they came from.