Amerind

Amerind is a term that has been used to refer to Indigenous peoples of the Americas, particularly in anthropology and linguistics. It is a portmanteau of "America" and "Indian," a term that arose from Christopher Columbus's mistaken belief that he had reached the East Indies. While "Indian" is still commonly used, "Amerind" was an attempt to create a more precise and less ethnocentric designation.

The term "Amerind" is most closely associated with the linguistic classification proposed by linguist Morris Swadesh in the mid-20th century. Swadesh grouped the Indigenous languages of the Americas into a single phylum, the Amerind phylum, which he believed represented a single ancestral language. This classification has been a subject of considerable debate and is not universally accepted by linguists, many of whom prefer to recognize a greater number of distinct language families.

In broader usage, "Amerind" can encompass any of the Indigenous peoples inhabiting North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean. However, it is less frequently used than terms like Native American, Indigenous American, or specific tribal names. Some scholars and Indigenous individuals find the term artificial or overly generalized, preferring more specific or self-identified terms. The term's usage has largely declined in favor of more widely accepted and respectful nomenclature.