Meanings
plural hackmatacks
- A larch, a tree of the species Larix laricina.
The hackmatack is remarkable for having a principal root, which sometimes equals in size the trunk to which it belongs.
1867, Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1866, page 483Synonyms: tamarack, American larch, weeping hemlock, black larch, tamarak, tamarack, tacamahac
- A balsam poplar, a tree of the species Populus balsamifera.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA larch, a tree of the species Larix laricina.
More synonyms by meaning
nounpoplar of northeastern North America with broad heart-shaped leaves
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Algonquian*-a·xkw-“hardwood or deciduous tree”
- Englishhackmatack
Believed to derive from Abenaki, though no specific etymon has been found. The term is first attested in the 1760s–90s, when it was spelled hakmantak and referred to dense forest. In European languages there was contamination between tacamahac, from Nahuatl, and various Algonquian words containing the final Proto-Algonquian *-a·xkw- (“hardwood or deciduous tree”), including the sources of tamarack and hackmatack, as was already recognized by Chamberlain 1902. This makes the precise Algonquian words involved difficult to recover. Compare the late 19th century German Low German term Hackemtackem (“tacamahac (medicinal resin)”).
More words from Proto-Algonquian
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
hackmatack. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hackmatack
“hackmatack.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hackmatack. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hackmatack,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hackmatack.
Source: hackmatack on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.