pemmican

American  

[pem-i-kuhn] / ˈpɛm ɪ kən /

Or pemican

noun

1. dried meat pounded into a powder and mixed with hot fat and dried fruits or berries, pressed into a loaf or into small cakes, originally prepared by North American Indians.

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pemmican British  

/ ˈpɛmɪkən /

noun

1. a small pressed cake of shredded dried meat, pounded into paste with fat and berries or dried fruits, used originally by American Indians and now chiefly for emergency rations

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Etymology

Origin of pemmican

1735–45; < Cree pimihka·n, derivative of pimihke·w he makes pemmican (mixing together the grease and other ingredients), he makes grease < Proto-Algonquian *pemihke·wa, equivalent to *pemy- grease + *-ehke· make

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pemmican

Some tribes still make pemmican today and even market a commercial version.

From Salon ● Nov. 9, 2023

It was designed to pound meat and berries to make pemmican.

From Washington Times ● May 30, 2015

Shipton and Tilman serves up great chunks of letter and diary like pemmican.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 27, 2013

There is also a gorgeous pemmican bag from about 1883, with a striped pattern of bright orange quills on gray horsehair; blue, beaded borders; and fringes made of small, conical metal elements.

From New York Times ● Mar. 14, 2011

Their important vegetable food, berries, failed a few miles from the river, and as very little game was seen they were obliged to eat the last of their pemmican on September 4.

From True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World by Adolphus W. Greely

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