Pequot

Part of speech: noun, proper noun

Definitions

1. A member of a Native American tribe originally located in Connecticut known for their historical conflicts with European settlers
2. The indigenous people associated with the Pequot War, involving significant disputes over land and resources in the 17th century
3. An ethnic group recognized for their unique cultural heritage and history, particularly in relation to early colonial encounters in New England

Etymology: The name belongs to a people of southern New England, and it was not originally their own. In the Narragansett language, their name was "Pequttôog," meaning "people of the shoals," a reference to the shallow waters and sandbars along their coast. Abenaki, a language spoken far to the north, has a related word "pôgwa," meaning "shallow" or "shoal," which points to a shared root for the idea of shallow water across these Algonquian languages. English speakers first recorded the name in the 1620s and 1630s, when colonists began writing about the people they were displacing. The spelling settled into "Pequot" over time, while the people themselves had a name that described their home landscape rather than a political identity. The name became attached to the Pequot War of 1636 to 1638, a conflict over land and resources between the Pequot and English colonists and their Native allies.

Synonyms: Pequot tribe, Pequot people