Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
A larch, a tree of the species Larix laricina.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: tamarack, American larch, weeping hemlock, black larch, tamarak
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A balsam poplar, a tree of the species Populus balsamifera.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
poplar of northeastern North America with broad heart-shaped leaves
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: balsam poplar, tacamahac, Populus balsamifera
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: poplar, poplar tree
History
Believed to derive from Abenaki, though no specific etymon has been found. The term is first attested in the 1760s–90s, when it was spelled hakmantak and referred to dense forest. In European languages there was contamination between tacamahac, from Nahuatl, and various Algonquian words containing the final Proto-Algonquian *-a·xkw- (“hardwood or deciduous tree”), including the sources of tamarack and hackmatack, as was already recognized by Chamberlain 1902. This makes the precise Algonquian words involved difficult to recover. Compare the late 19th century German Low German term Hackemtackem (“tacamahac (medicinal resin)”).
