moccasin

American  

[mok-uh-sin, -zuhn] / ˈmɒk ə sɪn, -zən /

noun

moccasins plural

1. a heelless shoe made entirely of soft leather, as deerskin, with the sole brought up and attached to a piece of u -shaped leather on top of the foot, worn originally by the American Indians.

2. a hard-soled shoe or slipper resembling this, often decorated with beads.

3. any of several North American snakes of the genus Agkistrodon (Ancistrodon ), especially the cottonmouth.

---

moccasin British  

/ ˈmɒkəsɪn /

noun

1. a shoe of soft leather, esp deerskin, worn by North American Indians

2. any soft shoe resembling this

3. a sheepshearer's footgear, usually made of sacking

4. short for water moccasin

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• moccasins
  plural

Etymology

Origin of moccasin

1605–15, < Virginia Algonquian < Proto-Algonquian *maxkeseni

Compare meaning

How does moccasin compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• water snake vs. moccasin

Explanation

If you lose a moccasin on your way to work, it means you'll be walking around with only one shoe all day. A moccasin is a soft leather slip-on shoe. Virginian Algonquins get credit for the word moccasin, though a relative of it existed in other American Indian languages to designate a leather shoe so elegant in design that it's now known around the world. Less well known, perhaps, is the correct spelling, which you see here. Everyone seems to know there's a double letter but fewer remember that it's the c, not the s.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

moccasin moccasins

Her team then checked this in a variety of snakes - dissecting a total of nine species including the carpet python, puff adder and Mexican moccasin.

From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2022

“He was kind of a grumpy snake, and everybody was going, ‘Omigod, omigod, it's a water moccasin, kill it!’” she recollects.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 18, 2022

The report cites an account that the name was inspired by an imprint shaped like a woman’s moccasin in a granite rock pointing toward the valley.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2022

At the next stop, a small man in moccasin slippers and no shirt got on.

From New York Times ● Aug. 22, 2021

The dog trainer then had hauled him toward the fence to point out another moccasin, then another, and still another—nine in all.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

There I met Nikola Pavlovic, a genial salesman wearing a flamingo-patterned bucket hat atop long hair, canvas moccasins and a shirt covered in psychedelic flowers.

From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2024

“It’s the most fun you can have with your moccasins on,” Real Bird, 73, jokingly tells crowds.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 27, 2023

Mattel should have considered traditional pucker toe moccasins, instead of black shoes, and included symbols on the basket that Cherokees use to tell a story, she said.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 4, 2023

These sheepskin-lined moccasins also come in two widths, making them especially friendly for wide-footed dads.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2022

Leaning forward, I reached in with the moccasins and wedged them into the soft bottom, letting them slide away.

From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

Related Words

• sandal