medicine woman en · NOUN
Etymology
Probably a calque of Ojibwe mashkikiiwininiikwe (“female doctor”), from mashkiki (“medicine”) + inini (“man”) + ikwe (“woman”).
Meanings
-
A female Native American (or, any other indigenous) shamanistic healer.
Near-synonym: shaman
Some twenty hours later his son was born, two months early, in the tepee of a skilled medicine woman.
1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, A Man Called Horse; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 185:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| medicine women | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Coordinates
Relateds
traditional medicine · indigenous medicine · folk medicine · medicinal · herbal medicine
Synonyms
Translations (13)
pl babka (shamanistic healer) · nn medisinkvinne (shamanistic healer) · nb medisinkvinne (shamanistic healer) · de Medizinfrau (shamanistic healer) · fr femme-médecine (shamanistic healer) · da klog kone (shamanistic healer) · fr sorcière (shamanistic healer) · da medicinkvinde (shamanistic healer) · nl medicijnvrouw (shamanistic healer) · pl znachorka (shamanistic healer) · eo kuraculino (shamanistic healer) · mas enk-aíkoni (shamanistic healer) · sv medicinkvinna (shamanistic healer)