Navajo

The term "Navajo" originates from Spanish colonial contact in the American Southwest. Spanish settlers adopted the word "Navajo" from the Tewa language, where "navahu’u" referred to large, cultivated fields in a valley, likely describing the agricultural practices of the people living near the Chama River region. The Spanish applied this name to the Diné people, who call themselves such, meaning "the people." Over time, the exonym "Navajo" entered English through American expansion and became the standard English designation for both the people and their language, illustrating how external labels can become fixed in a dominant language's lexicon.

The word "Navajo" is a loanword from Spanish, which in turn adapted it from a Tewa (Puebloan language) word meaning "cultivated fields" or "large area of cultivated land." It is not productively composed of smaller, meaningful morphemes within the English language system.