pemmican

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun lean dried meat pounded fine and mixed with melted fat; used especially by North American Indians

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

There were several small bags of pemmican, which Van der Kemp had learned to make while travelling on the prairies of North America among the Red Indians,--for this singular being seemed to have visited most parts of the habitable globe during his not yet very long life. — Blown to Bits; or, The Lonely Man of Rakata, R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne
The pemmican, which constitutes almost the entire diet of the Fur Company's men in the Northwest, is prepared as follows: The buffalo meat is cut into thin flakes, and hung up to dry in the sun or before a slow fire; it is then pounded between two stones and reduced to a powder; this powder is placed in a bag of the animal's hide, with the hair on the outside; melted grease is then poured into it, and the bag sewn up. — The Prairie Traveler: A Hand-book for Overland Expeditions, Randolph B. (Randolph Barnes) Marcy

pemican

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning