/zap"euh tek', zah"peuh-/ ; Sp. /sah'paw tek"/ , n. , pl. Zapotecs , ( esp. collectively ) Zapotec for 1, adj.
n.
1. a member of an American Indian people living in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
2. the Oto-Manguean language of the Zapotecs, consisting of a number of highly divergent dialects.
adj.
3. Archaeol. of or pertaining to a Mesoamerican Indian civilization of the Oaxaca region of Mexico c600 B.C. to A.D. 1000, characterized by a bar-and-dot system of enumeration, a calendar of Mayan derivation, ball courts, and underground frescoed tombs.
[ zapoteco tzapotecah, pl. of TZAPOTECATL person from Tzapotlan ( tzapo ( tl ) sapodilla + -tecatl suffix of personal nouns, -tlan locative suffix) ]