noun
Meaning 1
A Native American shamanistic healer.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: shaman
Phrase guide
medicine man
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
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
noun
Meaning 2
A traditional healer among other indigenous or ancient peoples.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
The pitchman at a medicine show.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
a Native American shaman
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: shaman, priest-doctor
Narrower terms: rainmaker
History
Etymology
Probably a calque of Ojibwe mashkikiiwinini (“doctor”), from mashkiki (“medicine”) + inini (“man”).
Across languages
Translations
44 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Western Apache: diyin — shamanistic healer
- Bulgarian: шаман (šaman) — shamanistic healer
- Bulgarian: знахар (znahar) — shamanistic healer
- Cherokee: ᏗᏓᏅᏫᏍᎩ (didanvwisgi) — shamanistic healer
- Maore Comorian: mwalimu-dunia — shamanistic healer
- Ngazidja Comorian: mwalimu-dunia — shamanistic healer
- Old Czech: lékovník — shamanistic healer
- Danish: medicinmand — shamanistic healer
- Dutch: medicijnman — shamanistic healer
- Esperanto: kuraculo — shamanistic healer
- Finnish: poppamies — shamanistic healer
- Finnish: šamaani — shamanistic healer
- French: homme-médecine — shamanistic healer
- French: sorcier — shamanistic healer
- Galician: menciñeiro — shamanistic healer
- German: Medizinmann — shamanistic healer
- Italian: uomo di medicina — shamanistic healer
- Karok: ikxariya'áraar — shamanistic healer
- Kikuyu: mũndũ mũgo — shamanistic healer
- Kikuyu: mũragũri — shamanistic healer
- Lakota: waphíye — shamanistic healer
- Lakota: pȟežúta wičháša — shamanistic healer
- Lakota: wičháša wakȟáŋ — shamanistic healer
- Northeast Maidu: jòmí — shamanistic healer
- Northeast Maidu: jòmím kylé — shamanistic healer
- Northeast Maidu: jòmím májdy — shamanistic healer
- Nandi: orkoiyot — shamanistic healer
- Navajo: hataałii — shamanistic healer
- Norwegian Bokmål: medisinmann — shamanistic healer
- Norwegian Nynorsk: medisinmann — shamanistic healer
- Ojibwe: mashkikiiwinini — shamanistic healer
- Polish: znachor — shamanistic healer
- Portuguese: curandeiro — shamanistic healer
- Portuguese: curandeira — shamanistic healer
- Shoshone: puhakantɨn — shamanistic healer
- Spanish: hombre medicina — shamanistic healer
- Swedish: medicinman — shamanistic healer
- Tlingit: íx̱t’ — shamanistic healer
- Turkish: üfürükçü — shamanistic healer
- Turkish: otacı — shamanistic healer
- Turkish: şaman — shamanistic healer
- Turkish: kam — shamanistic healer
- Turkish: bakşı — shamanistic healer
- Yurok: kegey — shamanistic healer