Tarairiú
Ochucuyana
Otxukayana
Native to	Brazil
Region	Rio Grande do Norte,Paraíba,Ceará,Piauí,Alagoas,Pernambuco
Ethnicity	Tarairiú people [pt]
Extinct	(date missing)
Revival	In recovery in the Tapuya Tarairiú Village of Lagoa do Tapará in the municipality of São Gonçalo do Amarante (Rio Grande do Norte)
Language family	unclassified
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	tara1303  Tarairiú jeni1237  Jenipapo-Kaninde
Geographical extent of the Tarariú

Tarairiú is an extinct language of eastern Brazil. The Tarairiú Nation was divided into several etnies: the Janduí, Kanindé, Payakú (Pajoke, Pajacú, Bajacú), Jenipapo, Jenipapo-Kanindé, Javó, Kamaçu, Takarijú, Ariús, Pêgas, Caratiús, Coremas, Panatís,Paratiós,Piancós,Xukurú among others.

It was once spoken between theAssú River andApodi River inRio Grande do Norte.^[1]

The language is attested only through a few word lists. A few words resemble those of neighboringKariri (and otherMacro-Jê) andXukuru languages, but not enough to support a genealogical connection. Kaufman (1994) reports that "not evenGreenberg dares classify this language".

Below is a list of extinct Tarairiú language varieties listed byLoukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.^[1]

• Xoró - once spoken on theApodi River, state of Rio Grande do Norte.
• Janduí - once spoken between theApodi River andAçú River, Rio Grande do Norte.
• Payakú - once spoken in Rio Grande do Norte in the Serra doCoité,Serra de São Bento and SerraCalabouço between theJaguaribe River andApodi River.
• Panatí - once spoken in the state of Paraíba in theSerra Panatí and near Villaflor.
• Miñari - once spoken in the valley of theApodi River, Rio Grande do Norte.
• Panahi - language of the neighbors of the Miñari tribe, Rio Grande do Norte.
• Canindé - once spoken at the sources of theChoró River, state of Ceará.
• Genipapo - Portuguese name of an extinct language on theChoró River.
• Camamu - once spoken on theAcaraú River, Ceará.
• Itañá / Baturité - once spoken in the Serra deBaturité, Ceará.
• Candodú - language of a neighboring tribe of the Jucá, Quixetó and Caratiú.
• Caratiú - once spoken at the sources of thePoti River and in the valley of theTriá River, Ceará.
• Camasú - once spoken in Ceará state at the sources of theAcaratí-guasú River
• Acriú - once spoken on the left bank of theAcaraná River, Ceará.
• Anasé - spoken in Ceará, on the right bank of theAcaraú River.

Some of the recorded words:^{[dubious –discuss]}

Resemblances withMacro-Jê languages are inkebra 'stone' (Proto-Je *kɛn),kreká 'head' (*krã),koreké 'hand' (*-ĩkra), andpoyá 'foot' (*par). Resemblances with Xukuru arekiro- 'fire' (Xukurukiyo),kringó 'eat' (kringgo 'feed'),sok 'house' (šekh).

Loukotka (1968) gives three words in Tarairiú:^[1]

• agh 'sun'
• kén 'stone'
• ake 'tobacco'

For a more extensive vocabulary list of Tarairiú by de Souza (2009),^[3] see the correspondingPortuguese article.

An alternative list of Tarairiú words compared with "Jê" dialects andCariri, compiled by theParaíba historian José Elias Barbosa Borges, is given in Medeiros (1999):^{[4][dubious –discuss]}

Portuguese gloss (original)	English gloss (translated)	Tarairiú	Jê dialects	Cariri
água	water	kaité	nko	dzu
cabeça	head	kreká	krã	tçambu
cabelo	hair	unj	sun	dü
casa	house	sekri	ikré	crá
comer	eat	kringó	khrem	ami
dormir	sleep	gon-yá	nogon	uni
filho	son	ako	ikra	inhurae
fogo	fire	kiró, kia	korru, kuwi	isu
mão	hand	koreke	bkhra	müsã
mulher	woman	krippó	mprom, piko	tidzi
nariz	nose	sikrin	khra	naembi
olho	eye	aço	nto	do
orelha	ear	bandulak	mpak	benhé
pé	foot	poiá	par	bü

Wiktionary has a word list atAppendix:Tarairiú word list

• de Souza Santos, Juvandi (2009).Cariri e tarairiú? Culturas tapuias nos sertoẽs da Paraíba(PDF) (doctoral thesis). Porto Alegre: Pontificia Universidade Católica Do Rio Grande do Sul.

• Extinct languages of South America
• Unclassified languages of South America
• Indigenous languages of Northeastern Brazil

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing uncoded-language text
• Language articles with unknown extinction date
• All accuracy disputes
• Articles with disputed statements from October 2025