Mississippi
/ˌmɪ.sɪˈsɪ.pi/ proper noun, interjection, noun
Forms Mississippis the Mississippi Missippi
- proper noun A state of the United States.
- proper noun (with the) A major river in the United States, flowing southward from north-central Minnesota through Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Minnesota and Louisiana, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.
- interjection Used in a common chronometric counting scheme, in which each iteration is sequentially numbered and supposed to equal approximately one second in length.
- noun A recitation of Mississippi (the interjection).
- noun (games) A variant of bagatelle.
- proper noun A river in Canada that flows from eastern Ontario into the Ottawa River.
Synonyms
the Big Muddy Big River Body of a Nation El Grande El Grande de Soto the Father of Waters the Gathering of Waters the Great River the Mighty Mississippi the Mississippi River the Muddy Mississippi Old Man River the Magnolia State the Hospitality State MS MS. Miss. MISS Mississippi River Magnolia State
Etymology
Borrowed from Ojibwe misi-ziibi, ᒥᓯ᐀ᓰᐱ (misi-siipi, “great river”).
Although its current spelling may be derived from that of its much larger American cousin, it is most certainly a corruption of a different indigenous name, as the translation “great water” would not apply to a relatively minor tributary of the Ottawa, definitely the largest river in the area. Instead, the name may originate from Mazinaa[bikinigan]-ziibi, Algonquian for “[painted] image river”, referring to the pictographs found on Mazinaw Lake, though this is by no means proven.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Mississippi”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details