Mohawk

See also: mohawk

English

Mohawk Valley and River
Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant), Mohawk leader and British military officer during the American Revolution
Mohawk hairstyle

Etymology

From Dutch Mohawk. An exonym, probably from Narragansett Mohowaúgsuck, Mauquàuog, meaning “they eat (animate things)”, “cannibals”.[1] The phoneme /m/ is not present in the Mohawk language; the Mohawk autonym is Kanien'kehá:ka (Kanienkehaka, Kanyenkehaka).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmoʊhɔːk/

Noun

Mohawk (plural Mohawks or Mohawk) (either plural for the indigenous people; plural "Mohawks" in all other senses)

  1. A member of an indigenous people of North America originally from the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York to southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, the easternmost of the Iroquois Five Nations.
  2. A hairstyle where both sides are shaved, with the hair along the crest of the head kept long, and usually styled so as to stand straight up.
    Synonyms: mohawk, Iroquois, (UK, Australia) Mohican
  3. (historical) A member of a gang (the Mohocks) that terrorized London in the early 18th century.

Derived terms

Translations

  • (indigenous person): Note: These are translations for the plural.

Proper noun

Mohawk

  1. The Iroquoian language spoken by these North American indigenous people.
  2. Mohawk River, the largest tributary of the Hudson River, New York.

Translations

See also

  • Wiktionary’s coverage of Mohawk terms

References

Further reading

Dutch

Etymology

From Narragansett Muh-heck.

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Proper noun

Mohawk

  1. The Mohawk people
  2. The Mohawk language
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