Micmac

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A native group of people from northeastern North America known for their distinct language and culture; a term used to describe complicated, often secretive discussions or negotiations; an adjective characterizing something intricate or involved in a confusing manner
2. An indigenous community primarily residing in Canada’s Atlantic provinces with unique linguistic and cultural traits; a phrase referring to tangled or covert dealings and arrangements; describing situations or actions that are complex and hard to decipher
3. A First Nations tribe native to areas of Canada and northeastern United States with their own language and traditions; expression denoting convoluted or guarded dialogues; used to depict elaborate or obscure matters requiring careful handling

Etymology: Few English speakers would guess that a word for tangled scheming shares its spelling with the name of an Indigenous people. The Mi'kmaq of Canada's Atlantic provinces are known by a name from their own language, Mí'kmaq, and English has also spelled it "micmac." The sense of muddled, secret dealings, however, has nothing to do with them. The word is probably a playful, reduplicated formation built by doubling a short sound, and its exact origin is uncertain. The resemblance to the people's name is a coincidence of spelling. The Mi'kmaq name is often glossed as "my friends" or "my allies," a term of kinship rather than anything suggesting disorder. Readers who meet the word in a sentence about a political muddle are therefore encountering two unrelated words that happen to look identical.

Synonyms: mi'kmaq, micmacs