cradleboard

or cra·dle board

[ kreyd-l-bawrd, -bohrd ]

noun

1. a wooden frame worn on the back, used by North American Indian women for carrying an infant.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cradleboard¹

First recorded in 1875–80; cradle + board

Example Sentences

“I was brought home in a fully beaded cradleboard,” she said at her home studio in Santa Fe, N.M.

From New York Times

A brightly colored cradleboard with a doll inside.

From New York Times

When the coronavirus shut down all tours one year after Morfin started her business, she pivoted, opening up Nez Perce Traditions, a shop in downtown Lewiston’s Newberry Square that features Native products, including beaded jewelry, deer-hide baby moccasins, warrior art, medicine bags, dresses decorated with cowrie shells, a beaded cradleboard, horse forehead ornaments and more.

From Washington Post

The woman bears an empty cradleboard symbolizing the loss of her child, and she is reaching north with one arm, symbolizing the direction of the tribes’ retreat.

From Washington Times

Neewo could wiggle out of his cradleboard now, at last, and was learning to walk.

From Literature