Apache

About Apache

Apache is not a single language. The Apache peoples of the southwestern United States speak several related languages, among them Western Apache in Arizona, Mescalero-Chiricahua and Jicarilla in New Mexico and Plains Apache in Oklahoma. They belong to the same Southern Athabaskan branch as Navajo. Western Apache is the largest, with about 13,000 people speaking it at home in the 2009 to 2013 census surveys, and UNESCO classes it as definitely endangered.

Most guides in this category do not say which Apache language they use, so treat a word here as belonging to one of them rather than to all.

FamilyNa-Dene, Athabaskan (Southern)
LargestWestern Apache, about 13,000 speaking it at home (2013)
Where spokenUnited States (Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma)
StatusWestern Apache: definitely endangered (UNESCO)
Codeapw (ISO 639-3, Western Apache)

Speaker number: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2009 to 2013, via Wikidata. Retrieved 26 September 2026.

Scroll to Top