pemmican

American  

[pem-i-kuhn] / ˈpɛm ɪ kən /

Or pemican

noun

1. dried meat pounded into a powder and mixed with hot fat and dried fruits or berries, pressed into a loaf or into small cakes, originally prepared by North American Indians.

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pemmican British  

/ ˈpɛmɪkən /

noun

1. a small pressed cake of shredded dried meat, pounded into paste with fat and berries or dried fruits, used originally by American Indians and now chiefly for emergency rations

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Etymology

Origin of pemmican

1735–45; < Cree pimihka·n, derivative of pimihke·w he makes pemmican (mixing together the grease and other ingredients), he makes grease < Proto-Algonquian *pemihke·wa, equivalent to *pemy- grease + *-ehke· make

Example Sentences

Some tribes still make pemmican today and even market a commercial version.

From Salon • Nov. 9, 2023

It’s no surprise that Roald Amundsen, on his 1910-12 journey to the South Pole, packed snow knives, a sledge meter, snowshoes, mittens, skis and pemmican.

From New York Times • Dec. 26, 2019

It was designed to pound meat and berries to make pemmican.

From Washington Times • May 30, 2015

Shipton and Tilman serves up great chunks of letter and diary like pemmican.

From The Guardian • Mar. 27, 2013

Tyson and the Eskimo families did their cooking from the first by lamp, native-fashion, the lamps being made from pemmican cans with wicks of canvas ravelings.

From True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World by Greely, Adolphus W.