North American Indian tribe of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan (Siouan languages) linguistic stock. The name Osage is a French alliteration of the name Wazhazhe, one of the two ancient kin groups (the other was the Tsishu) from which the tribe descended. Like other members of the Dhegiha—the Omaha, Ponca, Kansa, and Quapaw—the Osage migrated westward from the Atlantic coast, settling first in the Piedmont Plateau between the James and Savannah rivers in the present states of Virginia and the Carolinas. After a time they moved to the Ozark Plateau and the prairies of what is now western Missouri. At this point the five tribes separated, with the Osage remaining in villages on the Osage River, where Jacques Marquette (Marquette, Jacques) recorded their location in 1673. They remained there until the early 19th century, when they ceded their Missouri lands to the United States government and moved west to the Neosho River valley in Kansas. After settling on the Kansas reservation, the Osage were notable for their persistent rejection of the dominant American culture; they continued to dress in traditional clothing and to build traditional homes. They also discouraged the use of alcohol, which had been introduced by traders.

Traditional Osage culture was typical of many Plains Indians (Plains Indian) and involved a combination of village-based agriculture and nomadic bison hunting. Other important game animals were deer, bear, and beaver. Osage villages consisted of longhouses covered with mats or skins and arranged irregularly about an open space used for dances and council meetings. Tepees were used during the hunting season. Osage life centred on religious ceremonials in which clans were divided into symbolic sky and earth groups, with the latter further subdivided to represent dry land and water. The Osage were remarkable for their poetic rituals (folk literature). Among them was the custom of reciting the history of the creation of the universe to each newborn infant.