kinnikinnick

American  

[kin-i-kuh-nik] / ˌkɪn ɪ kəˈnɪk /

Also kinnikinnic,

noun

1. a mixture of bark, dried leaves, and sometimes tobacco, formerly smoked by the Indians and pioneers in the Ohio valley.

2. any of various plants used in this mixture, especially the common bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, of the heath family.

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kinnikinnick British  

/ ˌkɪnɪkɪˈnɪk /

noun

1. the dried leaves and bark of certain plants, sometimes with tobacco added, formerly smoked by some North American Indians

2. any of the plants used for such a preparation, such as the sumach Rhus glabra

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Etymology

Origin of kinnikinnick

1790–1800; earlier killikinnick, etc., < Unami Delaware kələk˙əní˙k˙an literally, admixture, derivative of Proto-Algonquian *keleken- mix (it) with something different by hand

Example Sentences

The findings upset previous theories that interior Northwest indigenous people only smoked other plants - such as kinnikinnick - before traders introduced tobacco from the Eastern U.S. around 1790.

From Washington Times • Nov. 3, 2018

Omakayas saw her father open up his leather pouch of sweet kinnikinnick and asema, or tobacco.

From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich

Grandma was completing the edge of a great round box of birchbark, one that she would use to store her red willow kinnikinnick.

From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich

A fragrant curl of sweet kinnikinnick smoke stirred from the red stone bowl.

From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich

She filled the bowl with kinnikinnick, tamped her pipe carefully, and lit it with a glowing stick.

From "The Birchbark House" by Louise Erdrich