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pús

illustration for 'cat'

cat

Pús is the Halq’eméylem word for ‘cat’.


Pronunciation

Pús sounds like POOSE.


Audio: Elizabeth Herrling


Origins

Pús comes from English puss. The word appears to have entered the language through Chinook Jargon, a trade language that was once common on the Northwest Coast.


Related words

The word for kitten is púpsò:llh.

The -ò:llh ending marks ‘little ones’ or ‘offspring’. In púpsò:llh the base word pús is also partly doubled (‘reduplicated’), to indicate ‘small’.


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