Potawatomi

noun

variants or less commonly Potawatami or Pottawattomi or Pottawattami
1
plural Potawatomi or Potawatomis also Potawatami or Potawatamis or Pottawattomi or Pottawattomis or Pottawattami or Pottawattamis : a member of an Indigenous people originally of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and adjoining states
2
: the Algonquian language of the Potawatomi people

Examples of Potawatomi in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Before inventing the skyscraper, Chicago was the traditional homeland of the people of the Council of Three Fires—the Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Odawa—as well as the Menominee, Miami, Ho-Chunk, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, and Illinois nations. Chadd Scott, Forbes, 13 Mar. 2025 Between the courts taking forever, the Potawatomi taking advantage and Waukegan taking dunce lessons, the Full House development was starting to look like a long shot. The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 25 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Ojibwa po·te·wa·tami· (boodewaadamii), corresponding to the Potawatomi self-designation potewatmi, of uncertain origin

Note: According to the Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 15, Northeast (Smithsonian Institution, 1978), p. 741: "This word is an unanalyzable name with no known literal meaning, and the commonly cited translation 'people of the place of the fire' is merely a folk etymology (Goddard 1972:131 [Ives Goddard, "Historical and Philological Evidence regarding the Identification of the Mascouten," Ethnohistory, vol. 19, no. 2, Spring, 1972, pp. 123-34]). There is certainly no connection with ško·te 'fire', and the vowel differences rule out derivation from Ojibwa po·tawe· 'makes a fire'."

First Known Use

1698, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of Potawatomi was in 1698

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Cite this Entry

“Potawatomi.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Potawatomi. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.

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