babiche

/bəˈbiːʃ/

Etymology

First attested around 1800–10. From Canadian French, from Mi'kmaq ápapíj (“cord, thread”), diminutive of ápapi, from Proto-Algonquian *aʔlapa·py, *aʔlapa·pyi, from *aʔlapy- (“net”) + *-a·py (“string”).

babiche means thong(s) of rawhide or sinew used as cord, lacing, or webbing, in the manufacture of snowshoes, braided straps and tumplines, fishing and harpoon lines, knit bags, etc. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.

babiche is pronounced /bəˈbiːʃ/.

Why “babiche” is a great word

BABICHE — [Noun] A thong or lace of rawhide, sinew, or gut, used especially in making snowshoes, fishing lines, and woven bags. Its name descends from Canadian French *babiche*, from Mi'kmaq *ápapíj* ("cord, thread"), a diminutive that unspools from the Proto-Algonquian roots for net and string, first recorded in the early 19th century. Unlike "shaganappi" (which names the prairie's rawhide and the ponies it bound) or the generic "cord" (a bland designation of material), babiche is the specific, pliant thread of a practical craft. It is the wet sinew pulled taut across a snowshoe frame to dry and harden, the almost-invisible line sunk beneath dark water to secure a meal, the continuous strip woven into a burden basket—the humble ligament that held a world together.

noun

Thong(s) of rawhide or sinew used as cord, lacing, or webbing, in the manufacture of snowshoes, braided straps and tumplines, fishing and harpoon lines, knit bags, etc.