Menominee

noun

Me·​nom·​i·​nee mə-ˈnä-mə-nē 

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

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

Fifty years later, in 1971, the Chicago Tribune documented how Menominee mother and activist Carol Warrington was jailed after pulling her children out of school in protest of the inaccurate and harmful depictions of Native people in their school textbooks. —TIME, 25 Nov. 2024

The Potawatomi claim southeast Wisconsin as their ancestral homeland, but Menominee tribal historians claim their tribe’s ancestral territory included all of what is now known as Wisconsin, as well as parts of Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota. —Frank Vaisvilas, Journal Sentinel, 20 Nov. 2024

For example, turnout on the Red Cliff Reservation increased by 28%, and turnout on the Menominee Reservation increased by 24%. —Frank Vaisvilas, Journal Sentinel, 1 Nov. 2024

Thirteen horses from Allegan, Cass, Clare, Kalamazoo, Lapeer, Menominee, Osceola (2), St. Joseph, Tuscola, Van Buren (2) and Wexford counties, and one bird from Antrim County have tested positive for EEE. —Dan Basso, Detroit Free Press, 30 Oct. 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

Geographical Definition

Menominee

geographical name

Me·​nom·​i·​nee mə-ˈnä-mə-nē 

river 125 miles (201 kilometers) long in northeastern Wisconsin flowing southeast on the Michigan–Wisconsin border into Green Bay