musher

American  

[muhsh-er] / ˈmʌʃ ər /

noun

Alaska and Northern Canada.

1. a person who competes in cross-country races with dog team and sled.

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Usage

What does musher mean? A musher is a person who steers a dogsled led by sled dogs. The term is especially used to refer to a person who does this to compete in a sled dog race, such as a cross-country race like the Iditarod. The word musher is most commonly used in Alaska and Canada, where sled dog racing is more common. Example: The prize goes to the musher, but it is the sled dogs that are the true champions.

Etymology

Origin of musher

First recorded in 1895–1900; mush ² + -er ¹

Explanation

A musher is someone who rides in a sled behind a team of sled dogs. To be a musher, you need (among other things) to learn commands and dress warmly. The sport of driving a team of dogs is known as mushing, and a person who participates is a musher. Both terms come from the command "Mush!" that mushers have traditionally called to urge the sled dogs forward. In the late 1860s, this term was recorded as mouche, which likely comes from the French marche, "go" or "run." Today, even more confusingly, mushers are more likely to say "Hike!" than "Mush!"

Example Sentences

Peter Bosold, a dogsled musher who traveled with the Journal to Bluie East Two, said he would like the Americans to return to his village where they used to operate a radar station.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

In the Sisimiut neighbourhood where the dogs are kept, their thunderous barking mounts as Nukaaraq Olsen, a 21-year-old musher, attaches them to the sled.

From Barron's • Feb. 10, 2026

In 2005, he became the youngest musher to run in the race, and in 2012, its youngest champion.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 12, 2024

The organization earlier called for musher Dallas Seavey to be removed from this year’s race after his dog Faloo was injured in an encounter with a moose shortly after the race started.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 11, 2024

Moose are large, and essentially insane with an almost pathological hatred of the dogs, the sled, the musher, trees, trains, cars, and everything else as near as I can figure.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen