English Explanatory Dictionary

squaw

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A woman, wife; especially a Native American woman.

Pronunciation

/skwɔː/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-squaw.wav

Word forms

squaw squaws

Etymology

From Massachusett squàw (“woman”), from Proto-Algonquian *eθkwe·wa (“(young) woman”). Cognate with Abenaki -skwa (“female, wife”), Mohegan-Pequot sqá, Cree iskwew / ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ (iskeyw, “woman”), Ojibwe ikwe (“woman”). In the 1970s, some non-linguists began to claim that the word originally meant vagina; this has been discredited. The first English attestation of the word is found in a book called Mourt’s Relation: A Journey of the Pilgrims at Plymouth written in 1622, where the "squa sachim or Massachusets Queen" is mentioned in a journal entry from September 20, 1621.

Derived words

oldsquaw squawberry squawbush squaw candy squaw carpet squawdom squaw dress squawfish squaw flower Squaw Grove squaw huckleberry squawlike squaw man squaw mint squawroot squaw tea Squaw Valley squaw vine squawvine squawweed squaw winter
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