ABSP - Native American

Native American

Words

bayou	the marshy offshoot of a lake or river. [Choctaw bayou, little river].
bogan	a quiet tributary or backwater. [Algonquin].
camas camash camass quamash	a blue-flowered liliaceous plant (Camassia esculenta) of northwestern America, the bulbs of which are collected for food by the Indians.
cantico canticoy kantikoy	to dance as an act of worship. [Algonquin].
caribou	a large deer found in Canada.
cashaw	a kind of pumpkin. [Algonquin].
cayuse	an Indian pony.
chechako cheechako cheechalko chechaquo	a tenderfoot.
chincapin chinkapin chinquapin	the dwarf chestnut of the US. [Algonquin].
chinook	a warm dry wind that descends the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. [Salish].
choctaw	a movement in skating.
cohog quahog quohog quahaug	a kind of clam.
dowitcher	the red-breasted or gray snipe. [Iroquois].
coontie coonty	any of several low-growing palmlike cycads of the genus Zamia, native to tropical and subtropical America; the arrowroot yielded by these plants. [Seminole].
eulachan eulachon oolachan oolakan oulakan oulachon ulicon ulichon ulikon	the North Pacific candle-fish. [Chinook ulakan].
geoduck gweduc gweduck	a kind of clam. [Lushootseed].
hackmatack	the American larch, a coniferous tree with slender deciduous leaves; also, its heavy, close-grained timber. Aka TAMARACK.
kachina katchina katcina	a doll representing rain-bringing Hopi ancestors. [Hopi qachina, supernatural].
killikinick kinnikinick kinnikinic	a mixture used by Native Americans as a substitute for tobacco. [Algonquin, 'mixture'].
kiva	an underground chamber used in religious rites by Pueblo Indians. [Hopi].
klooch klootch kloochman klootchman	a Native American woman, wife or squaw.
kokanee	a small landlocked species of sockeye salmon. [Salish].
mackinaw	a flat-bottomed boat; a kind of blanket.
manito manitu manitou	a name given by tribes of American Indians to a great spirit, whether good or evil, or to any object of worship. [Ojibwa manito].
menhaden	a fish of the herring family, Brevoortia tyrannus, of the Atlantic coast of N. America, an important source of fish guano and oil. [Algonquian, perh. f. a base meaning 'fertilize'.]
mocassin moccasin	a heeless shoe of deerskin or other soft leather.
mocock mocuck	a birch-bark box or basket.
mohawk	a movement in skating. [Narragansett mohowawog lit. 'man-eaters'.]
mugwump	a bolter from the Republican party in 1884; a political independent. [Algonquin].
mummichog	any one of several species of small American cyprinodont fishes of the genus Fundulus, and of allied genera; aka KILLIFISH. [Narragansett].
muskeg maskeg	a swamp, bog or marsh. [Cree maskek].
nocake	meal made of parched Indian corn. [Narragansett nokshick].
ondatra	the musquash. [Huron].
opossum	any of various small or medium-sized marsupial mammals, mostly arboreal, of the mainly neotropical family Didelphidae.
oquassa	a kind of lake trout.
papoose pappoose	a native American infant. [Narragansett].
pawaw powwow	a conference between American Indians; (verb) to hold such a conference. [Narragansett powwaw, shaman].
peag peage	wampum; beads used as money.
pecan	a kind of nut.
pembina	the bush cranberry, Viburnum trilobum. [Cree].
pemican pemmican	dried meat pounded with berries. [Cree pimekan].
piki	maize-meal bread in the form of very thin sheets, made by the Hopi Indians of the south-western US. [Hopi].
pocosin pocosen pocoson	an upland swamp of the coastal plain of the southeastern U.S. [Algonquin].
pogonip	a dense winter fog containing frozen particles that is formed in deep mountain valleys of the western U.S. [From 'paginappih' ('cloud') from the Southern Paiute, a Shoshonean people of the southwestern U.S.].
pokelogan	a quiet tributary, a BOGAN.
potlach potlache potlatch	a social event or celebration which features reciprocal gift-giving. [Nootka patlatsch, gift].
puccoon	the plant blood-root; a dark red colour. [Algonquin].
quinnat	a fish, the king-salmon.
sachem	an Indian chief; a Tammany leader. [Algonquin].
sagamore	a N. American Indian chief.
saganash	a white man[Algonquin].
salal sallal	a N.W. American ericaceous shrub. [Chinook].
samp	a coarsely ground maize. [Narragansett].
sannop sannup	a married male in N. American Indian societies.
saskatoon	an amelanchier of western N. America, Amelanchier alnifolia; the sweet purple berry of this shrub. [Cree].
sasquatch	a large hairy manlike creature said to inhabit certain parts of Canada.
scup scuppaug	a common Atlantic fish, the northern PORGY. [Narraganset mishcuppauog].
sego	a liliaceous plant of Western North America, and its edible bulb. [Ute].
sewan seawan seawant	the name used by the Algonquin Indians for the shell beads which passed among them as money.
sewellel	a peculiar gregarious burrowing rodent (Haplodon rufus), native of the coast region of the Northwestern United States, aka mountain beaver. [Chinook shewallal, a robe of its skin].
skookum	first-rate, the best. [From Chinook Jargon, from a Chehalis word meaning spirit or ghost].
sora soree	a North American rail (Porzana carolina) common in the Eastern United States.
squaw	(offensive) a woman, esp. a wife. [Massachuset squa].
squeteague	an American sciaenoid fish, abundant on the Atlantic coast of the United States, and much valued as a food fish. It is of a bright silvery color, with iridescent reflections. Aka WEAKFISH. [Narragansett].
succotash	a traditional American dish made from corn kernels and lima beans. [Narragansett].
supawn suppawn	a kind of maize porridge.
tamarack	the American or black larch.
tautaug tautog	a labroid fish of the North American coast. [Narraganset].
teepee tepee tipi	a Native American tent. (Sioux tipi, dwelling).
tillicum	a friend.
togue	the Great Lake char or trout, a gigantic salmonid of N. America.
tomahawk	a war-axe.
totem	an animal or plant adopted as ancestor by savage tribe, and held in great veneration. [Algonquin].
tuckahoe	an edible fungus of the United States. [Algonquin].
tuladi	a lake trout of N. America, aka TOGUE > TULADIS.
tullibee	a whitefish found in the Great Lakes of North America. [Ojibwa].
tupelo	a North American tree (Nyssa multiflora) of the Dogwood family, having brilliant, glossy foliage and acid red berries. [Creek].
wahconda wakanda	a supernatural force in Sioux belief.
wahoo	the burning bush, an ornamental shrub with scarlet-coated seeds. [Dakota wanhu].
wampum	beads made from shells, used as money etc. [Short for Massachusett wampompeag, from wampan (white) + api (string) + -ag, plural suffix.]
wampumpeag	the word of which WAMPUM is a shortening, meaning white string of beads.
wangan wanigan wannigan wangun	in a lumber camp, a chest for supplies, or the pay office.
wapiti	a species of deer native to N. America. [Algonquin].
watap watape wattape	a fibre or thread made by some N. American Indian peoples from the split roots of conifers, esp. white spruce. [Cree watapiy].
wavey wavy	the snow-goose. [Cree].
wawa	(Chinook) to speak > WAWAS, WAWAING, WAWAED.
wendigo windigo	a mythical monster among some N. American Indian tribes, that eats human flesh. [Ojibwa wintika].
wickiup wickyup	a N. American Indian hut constructed with an oval frame and covered with grass or mats.
wicopy wickape	the leatherwood, Dirca palustris. [Algonquin].
wigwam	a domed tent-like American Indian dwelling.
wishtonwish	the N. American prairie dog; the whip-poor-will.
woodchuck	a common large North American marmot (Arctomys monax), aka ground hog. [Alt. of N. Amer. Indian name (prob. Algonquian), by association with wood (cf. Narragansett ockqutchaun).]
wyandotte	a breed of domestic fowl. [Huron wendat].

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