wickiup

/ˈwɪkɪʌp/

Etymology

Wickiup-like structures were built by many Native American peoples throughout the Southwestern United States, and terms similar to wickiup are present "among Native Americans in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, and California", but the source of the word appears to be Fox wîkiyâpi (“house”). Alternatively, it may be a variant of wikiwam (“wigwam”). Either way, its ultimate origin is the Proto-Algonquian root *wi·kiwa·ʔmi (“house”). Doublet of wigwam.

Why this word is great

WICKIUP — [Noun] A domed hut constructed of brushwood, grass, or reed mats, traditionally used by seminomadic tribes of the American Southwest and West. From Fox (Meskwaki) wîkiyâpi ("house"), ultimately from Proto-Algonquian *wi·kiwa·ʔmi ("house"). Doublet of wigwam. Unlike "wigwam" (which conjures birch-bark shelters of northeastern forests) or "teepee" (a conical hide tent built for swift disassembly on the plains), the wickiup is a low, rounded structure woven from what the desert offers: brittle branches, dried grasses, the stubborn persistence of roots. It is the scent of juniper smoke seeping through woven walls, the rustle of a rabbit-skin blanket over packed earth, the way sunlight fractures into gold through gaps in the lattice—proof that shelter need not be permanent to be sacred.

noun

  1. A domed hut, similar to a wigwam, used by some seminomadic Native American tribes, particularly in the southwestern and western United States.“They say his real name is Cimarron Seven, of the Choctaw Indian family of Sevens; he was raised in a tepee; a wickiup had been his bedroom, a blanket his robe.”