English Explanatory Dictionary

Trail of Tears

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. The route followed by American Indians moved from their homelands in the southeastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi river by the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
noun
  1. A forced removal of American Indian or First Nation peoples, or other alleged injustice against them, like the original Trail of Tears.

Word forms

Trail of Tears the Trail of Tears trails of tears

Etymology

First originated from a Choctaw chief who described the displacement, quoted in the Arkansas Gazette as a "trail of tears and death". Later popularised in reference to the Cherokees, where it is called ᏅᏃᎯ ᏚᎾᏠᏱᎸᎢ (nvnohi dunatloyilvi, literally “the trail where they cried”) in the Cherokee language.

Derived words

trail of tears
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