chipmunk

[chip-muhngk] Origin

chip·munk

[chip-muhngk]
noun
any of several small, striped, terrestrial squirrels of the genera Tamias, of North America, and Eutamia, of Asia and North America, especially T. striatus, of eastern North America.

Origin:
1825–35, Americanism; assimilated variant of earlier chitmunk, apparently < Ojibwa ačitamo·nʔ red squirrel, equivalent to ačit- headfirst, face-down + derivational elements; so called from the squirrel's manner of descending trees
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To chipmunk

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Chipmunk is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
chipmunk (ˈtʃɪpˌmʌŋk)
 
n
any burrowing sciurine rodent of the genera Tamias of E North America and Eutamias of W North America and Asia, typically having black-striped yellowish fur and cheek pouches for storing food
 
[C19: of Algonquian origin; compare Ojibwa atchitamon squirrel, literally: headfirst, referring to its method of descent from trees]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

chipmunk
1841, from Algonquian, probably Ojibwa ajidamoo (in the Ottawa dialect ajidamoonh) "red squirrel," lit. "one who descends trees headlong" (containing ajid- "upside down"), probably infl. by Eng. chip and mink.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT