Tomahawks

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of hand-held axe traditionally associated with Native American culture, often used for both combat and as a tool
2. A medium-sized, light-weight axe that features a wooden handle and a sharpened metal head, commonly thrown at targets
3. An implement that serves as both a weapon in historical warfare and a contemporary sport instrument ideal for throwing at bullseyes

Etymology: The tomahawk's name comes from the Powhatan language of eastern Virginia, where a word like "tumahák" was used for a cutting tool, and the English form was borrowed from an Eastern Algonquian source. Related words in neighbouring Algonquian languages, such as the Abenaki "temahigan" and the Malecite-Passamaquoddy "tomhikon", both meant "axe," which suggests the root was widely shared across the region before English speakers adopted it. The word was a borrowing from Indigenous speech, not a coinage in English, and it is one of the few words from the Powhatan language to have reached the wider English vocabulary. The plural "tomahawks" is simply the regular form, referring to more than one such implement.

Synonyms: hatchets, axes, cleavers, choppers, weapons