squaw

Meanings

nounsquaw (plural squaws)

plural squaws

ethnicoffensiveslurA woman, wife; especially a Native American woman.
The nominal chief of this tribe was the husband of a lovely squaw.
1880, The History of Dodge County, Wisconsin, page 405
3 more examples
"If I ever set eyes on that savage again, I'll kill him. You know that, don't you, you damn squaw?" She shrugged. "Talk's cheap."
1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, Flame on the Frontier; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 29
The Indian maids, of course, turned out to be a few fat old squaws who knew all about white men.
1963, Lester del Rey, The Sky Is Falling
Reporters portrayed her as an “ignorant squaw.” […] Later, a reporter snapped her picture, her face defiantly composed, and a “new and exclusive picture of Mollie Burkhart” was sent around the world.
2021 (originally published 2017, adapted 2021), David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon: Adapted for Younger Readers, page 180

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

indianess woman

Origin

Proto-Algonquian*eθkwe·wa“(young) woman”
Massachusettsquàw“woman”
Englishsquaw

From Massachusett squàw (“woman”), from Proto-Algonquian *eθkwe·wa (“(young) woman”). Cognate with Abenaki -skwa (“female, wife”), Mohegan-Pequot sqá, Cree iskwew / ᐃᐢᑫᐧᐤ (iskeyw, “woman”), Ojibwe ikwe (“woman”). In the 1970s, some non-linguists began to claim that the word originally meant “vagina”; this has been discredited. The first English attestation of the word is found in a book called Mourt’s Relation: A Journey of the Pilgrims at Plymouth written in 1622, where the "squa sachim or Massachusets Queen" is mentioned in a journal entry from September 20, 1621.

More words from Massachusett, Proto-Algonquian

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian индианка

индианка (indianka)a woman, wife; especially a Native American woman

Esperanto skvo

skvoa woman, wife; especially a Native American woman

French squaw

squawa woman, wife; especially a Native American woman

Polish squaw

squawa woman, wife; especially a Native American woman

Russian скво

скво (skvo)a woman, wife; especially a Native American woman

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with squaw

law saw raw draw shaw aw withdraw McGraw straw warsaw wo faux jaw thoughtful tau flaw awe paw claw thor Limbaugh waugh haw thaw

All rhymes →

Cite this entry

APA

squaw. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/squaw

MLA

“squaw.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/squaw. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “squaw,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/squaw.

Source: squaw on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.