Kinnikinnik

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A blend of dried leaves and inner bark smoked ceremonially by certain Native American peoples ; the bearberry or other shrub whose foliage is used in that blend
2. A ceremonial smoking mix made from dried plant matter by some Native American nations ; a low evergreen shrub, often bearberry, whose leaves supply the ingredient
3. Mixed dried leaves and bark used in traditional Native American smoking rites ; a creeping plant, usually bearberry, whose leaves are included in that mixture

Etymology: Kinnikinnick is a smoking mix, traditionally made from dried plant materials such as bearberry leaves, mixed with tobacco or used alone, and the name reaches English from the Unami language of the Lenape people of the Delaware Valley. The Unami word "këlëkënikàn" meant "smoking mixture," and English speakers first recorded it with an "l" in the first syllable, as "killikinick" or "killikinnick." The spelling later shifted to the form we know today, though the sound has stayed much the same. The word tells a story about contact between peoples. Europeans in North America heard the Unami term and borrowed it directly into English, applying it to the blends that Indigenous peoples across the region had long prepared for ceremony and everyday smoking. Because the word was carried into English through trade and encounter, its spelling shows the traces of the ear that first wrote it down.

Synonyms: bearberry