windigo

[ win-di-goh ]

/ ˈwɪn dɪˌgoʊ /

noun

(in the folklore of the Ojibwa and other Indians) a cannibalistic giant, the transformation of a person who has eaten human flesh.

Psychiatry. a culture-specific syndrome occurring primarily among the Ojibwa and related Indian peoples and characterized by fever-induced delusions that one is being possessed by such a giant.

Nearby words

windgall, windham, windhoek, windhover, windies, windigo, winding, winding drum, winding frame, winding number, winding sheet

Origin of windigo

1705–15; < Ojibwa wi·ntiko·; cognate with Cree wi·htiko·w

Also called witigo.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for windigo

He did not intend that the Windigo should creep on their camp without his knowing it.
The Island of Yellow Sands|E. C. [Ethel Claire] Brill
They might overtake him, and if they did, a Windigo could expect no mercy from them.
The Island of Yellow Sands|E. C. [Ethel Claire] Brill
Windigo is the Indian name for a man who has eaten human flesh and has learned to like it.
The Island of Yellow Sands|E. C. [Ethel Claire] Brill
The Windigo at once consented: we got into his canoe, and he ferried us over.
The Great Lone Land|W. F. Butler

Rather starve on the Whale, they said, than in the haunted valleys where the voices of the Windigo filled the nights with fear.
The Whelps of the Wolf|George Marsh

British Dictionary definitions for windigo

windigo

/ (ˈwɪndɪˌɡəʊ) /

noun

a variant of wendigo

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012