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muskellunge

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mus⋅kel⋅lunge

[muhs-kuh-luhnj]
–noun, plural -lung⋅es, (especially collectively) -lunge.
a large game fish, Esox masquinongy, of the pike family, found in the lakes and rivers of eastern and middle western North America.


Origin:
1780–90, Americanism; earlier muskinunge, masquenongez (F sp.), etc., < CanF maskinongé < Ojibwa ma⋅skino⋅ŝe⋅, ma⋅ŝkino⋅ŝe⋅ (equiv. to Proto-Algonquian *mya⋅ŝi similar to, kind of + *kenweŝye⋅wa northern pike)
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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mus·kel·lunge or mus·ke·lunge   (mŭs'kə-lŭnj')   
n.   pl. muskellunge or mus·kel·lung·es or muskelunge or mus·ke·lung·es
A large food and game fish (Esox masquinongy), the largest member of the pike family, found in lakes and rivers of the northern United States and southern Canada.

[Canadian French maskinongé, from Ojibwa maashkinoozhe.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

muskellunge 
"large N.Amer. pike," 1789, from Algonquian (Ojibwa) maashkinoozhe; the second element kinoozhe "pike;" the first either mac "great," maazh- "similar to," or maazh- "ugly." Altered by Fr. folk etymology as masque allongé "long mask." Called muskie for short (1894).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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