parfleche means A form of stiff leather made from rawhide. It carries an Arena rating of 1364, earned across 27 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, parfleche ranks #1,029 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,643 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #3,237 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #3,363 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
parfleche is pronounced /ˈpɑːflɛʃ/.
Why “parfleche” is a great word
PARFLECHE — [Noun] A stiff, durable leather made from rawhide, especially from buffalo, and items such as shields or bags crafted from it. From Canadian French *parflèche*, from French *parer* ("to parry, ward off") + *flèche* ("arrow"), literally meaning "[that which] wards off arrows"; first attested in English in the 1820s. Unlike "buckskin," a soft, tanned leather, or a "pemmican bag," which specifies a function, parfleche names the very substance: a shield's foundational material, a pouch's tough membrane. It is the hardened curve deflecting a lance, the stiff envelope of a painted storage case, and the rasp of a folded trunk lashed to a travois—the austere architecture of a portable life, shaped to endure both arrow and distance.
Etymology
French parer + flèche
noun
- A form of stiff leather made from rawhide.e.g.“The boots had pointed toes like buskins and they had parfleche soles and high tops that were rolled down about the knees and tied.” — 1985, Cormac McCarthy, chapter IX, in Blood Meridian […] , →OCLC:
- A shield, bag or other item made from this material.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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