English Explanatory Dictionary

musquaw

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The American black bear.

Word forms

musquaw musquaws

Etymology

From a Native American (probably Algonquian) word. Perhaps from Abenaki moskwas (“muskrat, musquash”). The use of a Native American word for one animal to designate a different animal was not uncommon; compare woodchuck (“groundhog”), from an Algonquian word for the fisher marten.

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