pogonip

noun

pog·​o·​nip ˈpä-gə-ˌnip 

: a dense winter fog containing frozen particles that is formed in deep mountain valleys of the western U.S.

Did you know?

Readers of The Old Farmer's Almanac might recognize the odd-sounding warning, "Beware the pogonip!" So what's a pogonip? In the mountains of the western United States, the fog condenses into tiny, biting ice particles in extremely cold weather. The English-speaking settlers who encountered this unpleasant and sometimes scary phenomenon when they went out West in the 1800s needed a word for it. They borrowed "payinappih" ("cloud") from Shoshone, altering it to "pogonip."

Word History

Etymology

Shoshone paγɨnappɨh cloud

First Known Use

1865, in the meaning defined above

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