Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.
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 cariboo | 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 oolichan | 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 katsina | 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. |
kokanee | a small landlocked species of sockeye salmon. [Salish]. |
mackinaw | a flat-bottomed boat; a kind of blanket. |
mamateek | a type of wigwam. |
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. |
rabaska | a large canoe. |
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. |
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 touladi | 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 waconda | 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 > WENDIGOS or WENDIGOES; WINDIGOS or WINDIGOES. [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]. |