Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1630s
Papoose
from papoos
- Meaning
- A Native American baby; the carrier used to hold one.
- Source word
- papoos
- Route into English
- Narragansett *papoos* (child) → English in 17th-century New England. Now sometimes considered outdated or culturally insensitive when used outside Indigenous speakers.
- Arrived
- 1630s
From Indigenous languages
A loose group: Nahuatl, Taino, Algonquian, Guugu Yimithirr, and others. Colonial contact produced many loans; the speakers were often systematically dispossessed of the land the loanwords described.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.