Hackmatack
noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 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."
- 2 poplar of northeastern North America with broad heart-shaped leaves wordnet
- 3 A balsam poplar, a tree of the species Populus balsamifera.
Example
More examples"The hackmatack is remarkable for having a principal root, which sometimes equals in size the trunk to which it belongs."
Etymology
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)”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.