Skokeberry

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A pokeberry or pokeweed plant (Phytolacca americana) or its dark red or purple fruit. US

Etymology

Perhaps a half-translation of an Algonquian term for "red berry" (compare Abenaki mkw-, mskw- (“red”)), in reference to the berries' red colour. Alternatively, perhaps a half-translation of an Algonquian term such as Penobscot *skokimin (“snake berry”), in reference to the fact that the plant is poisonous. Compare scoke.

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