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''pemmican'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260904120411-00-⌔

pemmican - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

pemmican (usually uncountable, plural pemmicans)

  • A food made from meat which has been dried and beaten into a paste, mixed with berries and rendered fat, and shaped into little patties. [from 18th c.]
    • ✤ “I can butcher a buffalo and make pemmican. I can pitch a tepee and pack it on a horse to move.”1
    • ✤ I tried to eat some pemmican, but my mouth was too dry.2
  • (now rare) A speech or piece of writing that is very condensed, conveying a lot of thought or information in few words. [from 19th c.]

Etymology

From Cree ᐱᒦᐦᑳᐣ (pimiihkaan, “pemmican”), from Cree ᐱᒥᕀ (pimiy, “grease, oil, lard”) + -ᐃᐦᑳᐣ (-ihkaan, “hand made”), from Proto-Algonquian ﹡pemyi.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpɛmɪkən/
  • Audio (US): 🔊

Printed 2026-09-04.

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Footnotes

  1. 1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, Flame on the Frontier; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 27: ↩

  2. 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 239: ↩