chinquapin

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

chinquapin

Alternative forms

chinkapin, chincapin

Etymology

Like its cognate / alternative form chinkapin, chinquapin is an alteration of chechinquamin / chincomen (the form found in early records), from an Algonquian language (sometimes said specifically to be from Powhatan). The final element is *mini (“berry, fruit”). Hewitt suggested that the first element was a word meaning "large, great" cognate to xinkw- (“big, large, great”).^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃɪnkəpɪn/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

chinquapin (plural chinquapins)

Any of certain species of tree in the chestnut genus Castanea:
Any in the genus Castanopsis of trees.
Any in the genus Chrysolepis of trees and shrubs.
Quercus muehlenbergii, a tree whose leaves resemble those of chestnut-genus chinquapins.
Synonym: chinkapin oak
A water chinquapin, an aquatic plant of species Nelumbo lutea, American lotus.
A redear sunfish, a freshwater fish of the southeastern US (Lepomis microlophus).
Synonyms: shellcracker, Georgia bream, cherry gill, chinkapin, improved bream, rouge ear sunfish, sun perch

Derived terms

Translations

shrub in the genus Castanopsis

Cherokee: ᎤᎾᎩᎾ (unagina)
German: Scheinkastanie f

References

^ Bulletin 30 of the Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: "Such forms as chincomen and chechinquamin, found in early writings, make plausible the supposition that a p was later substituted for an m in the last syllable of the word, which would then represent the widespread Algonquian radical min, 'fruit', 'seed'. The first component [...], according to Hewitt, is probably cognate with the Delaware chinqua, 'large', 'great'.

[1] Bulletin 30 of the Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: "Such forms as chincomen and chechinquamin, found in early writings, make plausible the supposition that a p was later substituted for an m in the last syllable of the word, which would then represent the widespread Algonquian radical min, 'fruit', 'seed'. The first component [...], according to Hewitt, is probably cognate with the Delaware chinqua, 'large', 'great'.

[1]