Potawatomi

American  

[pot-uh-wot-uh-mee] / ˌpɒt əˈwɒt ə mi /

noun

• Potawatomis,
  plural
• Potawatomi
  plural

1. Also called Bodewadmi.  a member of an Algonquian people originally of Michigan and Wisconsin.

2. Also called Bodewadmimwen.  the Algonquian language of the Potawatomi, closely related to Ojibwe.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Potawatomi or their language.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Potawatomi
  plural
• Potawatomis
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Potawatomi

First recorded in 1690–1700; from French Poutouatami, Pouteouatami, from Ojibwe po·te·wa·tami· “those who tend the hearth fire” (of the Council of Three Fires)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Potawatomi Potawatomis

The Forest County Potawatomi is one of the Council's easternmost members, and it has embraced bison as a way to provide its people with a healthy source of protein.

From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2022

The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians in Florida and the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Kansas argued the new amounts didn’t make sense when broken down to a per-person figure and continued their fight in court.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 28, 2022

For example, his tribe, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, was forcibly relocated twice from its home in the Great Lakes region: first to Kansas, and then to Oklahoma.

From Science Magazine ● Oct. 27, 2021

While the Potawatomi received some payment for their land, they and most First Nations people, experienced death, cultural extinction and dislocation unimaginable today.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 6, 2021

In 1809 Indiana’s territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, badgered and bribed a few destitute Delaware, Miami, and Potawatomi individuals to sign the Treaty of Fort Wayne.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

In the spring of 1763, a war chief named Pontiac took the first step by organizing a siege of Fort Detroit by Potawatomis, Hurons, and his own Ottawa tribe.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

The conflict began in earnest in 1763, when Pontiac and several hundred Ojibwas, Potawatomis, and Hurons laid siege to Fort Detroit.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014

At that meeting Tecumseh had delegates with him from several nations, including Kickapoos, Wyandots, Peorias, Ojibwas, Potawatomis, Winnebagos, and Shawnees.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

The Miamis held the center; the Wyandots, the Delawares and the Senecas held the right; the Ottawas, the Potawatomis, the Shawnees, and others, held the left.

From Boys' Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Indian Women by Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin

Puzzled and stung by the news that their fathers, the French, had been beaten in war, a great number of Ottawas, Potawatomis, Chippewas, Sacs and Wyandots gathered at old Detroit, to witness the surrender.

From Boys' Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Indian Women by Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin