Menominee

noun

Me·​nom·​i·​nee mə-ˈnä-mə-nē How to pronounce Menominee (audio)
variants or less commonly Menomini
1
plural Menominee or Menominees also Menomini or Menominis : a member of an Indigenous people of northeastern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula
2
: the Algonquian language of the Menominee people

Examples of Menominee in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, counties including Alger, Luce, Delta, and Schoolcraft are bracing for up to 8 inches of snow and ice accumulations of up to half an inch through Sunday evening, while Dickinson, Iron, and Menominee Counties could see up to 6 inches of snow. Martha McHardy, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Mar. 2025 In Michigan, the NWS has issued a winter storm warning for multiple counties including Delta, Luce, Menominee, and Schoolcraft counties, where 4 to 6 inches of snow are expected. Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 19 Mar. 2025 Before inventing the skyscraper, Chicago was the traditional homeland of the people of the Council of Three Fires—the Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Odawa—as well as the Menominee, Miami, Ho-Chunk, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo, and Illinois nations. Chadd Scott, Forbes, 13 Mar. 2025 Staff at the College of Menominee Nation were seeking reimbursement for $50,000 spent on research and other work conducted in January, when a federal website indicated a grant from the USDA had been suspended. Matt Krupnick, ProPublica, 10 Mar. 2025 Similar patterns follow after European contact: When settlers felled northern Wisconsin’s white pine forests, tribes like the Menominee turned to trees such as hemlock and butternut. Jacqueline Kehoe, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Dec. 2024 Newberry Library Chicagoland is the traditional homeland of the people of the Council of Three Fires—the Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Odawa—as well as the Menominee, Miami, Ho-Chunk, Sac, Fox, Kickapoo and Illinois nations. Chadd Scott, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024 Perkins Restaurant & Bakery The only Perkins Restaurant & Bakery left in Michigan is located in Menominee. Tanya Wildt, Detroit Free Press, 16 Dec. 2024 In 1977, the Siletz became the second tribe to succeed, following the restoration of the Menominee Tribe in Wisconsin in 1973. Claire Rush, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Ojibwa mano·mini· (manoominii), literally, "wild rice people," derivative of mano·min (manoomin) "wild rice"

Note: According to the Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 15, Northeast (Smithsonian Institution, 1978), p. 723, "the Menominee name for themselves, omɛ·ʔnomene·w is of obscure etymology but is clearly not derived from their word mano·meh 'wild rice'."

First Known Use

1722, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of Menominee was in 1722

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Cite this Entry

“Menominee.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Menominee. Accessed 5 Apr. 2025.

Geographical Definition

Menominee

geographical name

Me·​nom·​i·​nee mə-ˈnä-mə-nē How to pronounce Menominee (audio)
river 125 miles (201 kilometers) long in northeastern Wisconsin flowing southeast on the Michigan–Wisconsin border into Green Bay

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