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

Many of the men ate pemmican, a dried meat mixture concocted by Native Americans.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 15, 2011

Presently he brought in something to eat, for we were famished; and when Eva smelt it wasn’t cheese and pemmican, she woke up.

From Fridtjof Nansen A book for the young by Jacob B. Bull

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