South American Indian group that has traditionally inhabited eastern Paraguay and adjacent areas of Brazil and Argentina. Aboriginal Guaraní were formerly warlike and took captives to be sacrificed (and allegedly eaten). Their shifting cultivation required them to move their settlements every few years. The descendants of Guaraní women and Spanish ranchers are modern Paraguay's rural population. Only a few scattered communities of true Guaraní remain, but Paraguay still claims a strong Guaraní heritage, and most of the million peasants living along the Paraguay River near Asunción speak a version of the aboriginal Guaraní language
the language spoken by the Guarani people of Paraguay and Bolivia a member of the South American people living in Paraguay and Bolivia the basic unit of money in Paraguay; equal to 100 centimos