Papoose

//pəˈpuːs// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A Native American baby. US, dated, offensive

    "[…] a half-breed what they nicknamed "Splinters" 'cos of the way he fixed up her papoose which he stole on a raid […]"

  2. 2
    an American Indian infant wordnet
  3. 3
    A backpack for carrying a baby, or specifically a cradleboard. UK

Synonyms

All synonyms
babberbabebabybaby buntingbambinoincubator baby

Example

More examples

"[…] a half-breed what they nicknamed "Splinters" 'cos of the way he fixed up her papoose which he stole on a raid […]"

Etymology

Borrowed from Narragansett papoos (“a child”).

Related phrases

papoose boardpapoose root

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.