Kansans

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. People who are native to or residents of the state of Kansas in the central United States
2. Inhabitants or natives of Kansas, a Midwestern state known for its plains and agricultural heritage
3. Individuals originating from or living in Kansas, a state situated in the Great Plains region of America

Etymology: "Kansans" is the plural of "Kansan," a person from the U.S. state of Kansas. The state takes its name from the Kansa (or Kaw), a Siouan-speaking people whose homeland lay along the river that now bears their name, and "Kansas" carried that tribal name onto the territory and eventually the state. The noun itself is simply "Kansas" with the suffix "-an" added, the same ending found in words like "Mexican" and "American," which turns a place name into a term for its inhabitants. The suffix has a long lineage before it reached English. It descends from Latin "-anus," which passed through Old French "-ain" and reached Middle English as "-an." The pattern was productive in English long before Kansas existed as a state, so new place names have kept generating new demonyms with the same ending.