moccasin

American  

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

noun

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.

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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

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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

Example Sentences

A water moccasin may glide silently past, and a few times we’ve seen iridescent alligator eyes peering out at us before they sank back down into the depths.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 2, 2023

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

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

From New York Times • Aug. 22, 2021

As he walked the fence line, Curly was pleased not to come across a single cottonmouth moccasin.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen

Related Words

• sandal