Acadian

//əˈkeɪ.di.ən// adj, name, noun

adj, name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A native of Acadia or their descendants who moved to Louisiana; a Cajun.
  2. 2
    an early French settler in the Maritimes wordnet
  3. 3
    A descendant of the settlers of the French colony of Acadia in current eastern Canada. More specifically a speaker of Acadian French. Canada
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of or pertaining to Acadia, its people, or their language or culture.
  2. 2
    Of or pertaining to the Acadian epoch.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    Ellipsis of Acadian French (“the form of French spoken in Acadia”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, rare

    "In many places, Acadian has been supplanted by English and by Standard French."

  2. 2
    The Middle Cambrian epoch, lasting from 497 million years ago to 509 million years ago.

    "The Burgess Shale contains fossils of very odd organisms that lived during the Acadian."

Synonyms

All synonyms
cockneydialectidiomlocalismmiddle cambrianpatois

Example

More examples

"The word "Cajun" comes from "Acadian," one of North America's French-speaking communities."

Etymology

First attested in 1705. From Acadia + -n (“one that is”).

Related phrases

Acadian CoastAcadian FrenchAcadian owlacadian frenchmaritime provincesmiddle cambrian

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.