Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Offensive A Native American woman, especially a wife.
- noun Offensive Slang A woman or wife.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A female American Indian; an American Indian woman.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Considered offensive by some American indians. A female; a woman, especially a married woman; a wife; -- in the language of Indian tribes of the Algonquin family, correlative of sannup.
- noun (Zoöl.) See under
Old .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun sometimes pejorative A
woman ,wife ; especially aNative American woman.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an American Indian woman
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Mountain Phil and his Klooch -- that being the name he called his squaw, which is also the Arapahoe name for wife -- were staying alone about ten miles further down the country from where we were located.
Thirty-One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains, Or, the Last Voice from the Plains William F. Drannan 1872
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Jennine Jacob, a fashion blogger of Native American descent, who was upset by the use of the word "squaw."
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Wendy Brandes 2011
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I understand your and others' concern about the use of the word "squaw."
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Wendy Brandes 2011
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One wrote, "The word 'squaw' is racist, offensive, and insulting on so many levels that I can't believe anyone in the 21st century would use it...."
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Wendy Brandes 2011
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Ives Goddard, now senior linguist emeritus at the Smithsonian's Department of Anthropology, has always disputed Harjo's translation, saying the word "squaw" derives "from an innocent term for woman."
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Wendy Brandes 2011
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From the midst of the crowd, thrust out by its own vividness, appeared the face of a wild-eyed squaw from the remote regions of the Upper Tana-naw; a strayed Sitkan from the coast stood side by side with a Stick from Lake Le Barge, and, beyond, a half-dozen French-Canadian voyageurs, grouped by themselves.
The Wit of Porportuk 2010
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From the midst of the crowd, thrust out by its own vividness, appeared the face of a wild-eyed squaw from the remote regions of the Upper Tana-naw; a strayed Sitkan from the coast stood side by side with a Stick from Lake Le Barge, and, beyond, a half-dozen French-Canadian voyageurs, grouped by themselves.
The Wit of Porportuk 1910
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If my great brother, who has told us not to scalp this bee-hunter and her he calls his squaw, will tell us the name of his tribe, I shall be glad.
Oak Openings James Fenimore Cooper 1820
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Mountain Phil and his Klooch ” that being the name he called his squaw, which is also the Arapahoe name for wife ” were staying alone about ten miles further down the country from where we were located.
Thirty-One Years on the Plains and In the Mountains Drannan, William F 1899
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He also explains the political and sexual controversy behind the much-abused word "squaw" -- which is a lot more complicated than you might think.
Boing Boing 2008
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Derived from the Algonquin language, the word “squaw” is believed to have once meant “woman”, however, it has become a misogynistic and racist term used to disparage Indigenous women.
Indigenous activists want to change a California town’s racist name. Officials are pushing back Dani Anguiano 2021
chained_bear commented on the word squaw
Historical; used to describe an American Indian woman but like other such terms from the past, it's considered offensive today. Also used as a prefix for a number of plants/animals, e.g. squaw-berry, oldsquaw (former name for a type of duck), squaw-fish.
August 27, 2008
bilby commented on the word squaw
Squaw-berries?! Are they what squid eat when they go to watch Wimbledon?
December 13, 2008
ivypluck commented on the word squaw
I have tried to play the word squaw several times in Scrabble on Pogo the officially liscensed Scrabble sight and it is not accepted. Does anyone know why?
August 16, 2010
bilby commented on the word squaw
Maybe just an oversite.
August 17, 2010
dontcry commented on the word squaw
This reminds me of a joke my grandmother told me many, many moons ago (seriously). The punch line was: "No. Squaw bury shortcake."
August 17, 2010