chinquapin

Meaning

Noun

• Certain trees in the chestnut genus Castanea:
• Any of the trees in the genus Castanopsis.
• Any of the trees and shrubs in the genus Chrysolepis (genus).
• A chinkapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii (species)), a species of oak whose leaves resemble those of chestnut-genus chinquapins.
• A water chinquapin, the water plant Nelumbo lutea, American lotus.
• The redear sunfish (Lepomis microlophus (species)).

Origin

• Like its cognate / alternative form chinkapin, chinquapin is an alteration of chechinquamin / chincomen (the form found in early records), from an Algonquian language (sometimes said specifically to be from Powhatan). The final element is *mini. Hewitt suggested that the first element was a word meaning "large, great" cognate to xinkw-.