Characters at either end eye native American (5)
I believe the answer is:
aztec
'native american' is the definition.
(Aztec is an example)
'characters at either end eye' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'eye' could be 'tec' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'tec' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aztec that I've seen before include "American people" , "Early Mexican civilisation" , "certain old people" , "Irish lower house" , "Person of earlier Mexican civilization" .)