Etymology

Spokane

S1P3O1K5A1N1E1

Today it means: A Native American Plateau tribe who inhabited the eastern portion of Washington state and parts of northern Idaho. Full definition →

spo Spoqe'ind
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The story

  1. spo · derived fromSpoqe'ind“round head”
  2. English todaySpokane

A number of etymologies of the name have been proposed, most frequently “Sun children”, “children of the Sun”, or “muddy people”. According to Barry Pritzker (2011), these interpretations are most probably popular etymologies derived from an actual self-designation of Spokane Spoqe'ind (“round head”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.