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Paiute

Index of articles associated with the same name

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated December 29, 2025
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Paiute (/ˈpaɪjuːt/; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three languages do not form a single subgroup and they are no more closely related to each than they are to the Central Numic languages (Timbisha, Shoshoni, and Comanche) which are spoken between them.

The term "Paiute" does not refer to a single, unique, unified group of Great Basin tribes, but is a historical label comprising:

01Linguistic differences

Though sharing similar Numic roots, the three groups historically called Paiute have different languages as shown below:

Numic
Western

Northern Paiute

Mono

Southern

Kawaiisi

Southern Paiute

Tree of Numic languages showing the classification differences between the various groups called "Paiute" with the Western Numic branch of languages containing Mono with its Owens Valley Paiute dialect and Northern Paiute on the left and the Southern Numic branch containing the Colorado River language and its Southern Paiute dialect on the right. Mutually intelligible groups of dialects are grouped together at the bottom of each branch in italics.
Tree of Numic languages showing the classification differences between the various groups called "Paiute" with the Western Numic branch of languages containing Mono with its Owens Valley Paiute dialect and Northern Paiute on the left and the Southern Numic branch containing the Colorado River language and its Southern Paiute dialect on the right. Mutually intelligible groups of dialects are grouped together at the bottom of each branch in italics.
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Paiute”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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