pocosin en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /pəˈkoʊsən/
Etymology
From an unknown Algonquian word, sometimes suggested to be one meaning "opening out" (the widening of a river, related to Ojibwe baakisin (“it is left open”)), or "swamp on a hill". Alternatively, perhaps related to Abenaki pôgwaso (“very shallow”).
Meanings
-
(US) A low, wooded swamp in (especially coastal) Eastern Maryland, Virginia or the Carolinas; a palustrine wetland with deep, acidic peat soils.
One has to go down "on all fours" to get below the dense tangle of vegetation. Each step in the soft peat is uncertain. The reward is a pocosin community full of wildflowers.
2001, Richard Dwight Porcher, Douglas Alan Rayner, A Guide to the Wildflowers of South Carolina, University of South Carolina, page 95:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| poquoson | alternative | lexicographic | |
| pocosen | alternative | lexicographic | |
| pocosins | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| pocoson | alternative | lexicographic |