Meanings
- The Chesapeake Bay.
- historical(with the) A Native American tribe that once inhabited the area now known as South Hampton Roads in Virginia, United States.
- A number of other places in the United States:
- An extinct town in Warren County, Indiana.
- A village in Lawrence County, Ohio.
- An independent city in south-east Virginia.
- A town in Kanawha County, West Virginia.
plural Chesapeakes
- Any member of the Chesapeake tribe.
The Englishmen reported that they had seen several Chesapeakes in a canoe.
Synonyms: Chesepian
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAny member of the Chesapeake tribe.
Origin
- Algonquinchesepiooc
- EnglishChesapeake
From Chesepiook, from Algonquin chesepiooc. The demonym came from the toponym, signifying "people from the Chesapeake" or "Chesapeake people". It was widely believed for a long time that "Chesapeake" means something like "Great Shellfish Bay." However, according to Blair Rudes, linguist at the University of North Carolina, the name might actually mean something like "Great Water," or it might have been simply the name of a village at the bay's mouth.
More words from Algonquin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Chesapeake. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chesapeake
“Chesapeake.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chesapeake. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Chesapeake,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Chesapeake.
Source: Chesapeake on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.