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totem

UK/ˈtəʊtəm/US/ˈtoʊtəm/
nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #8,859 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: totems

A totem is an animal or object held sacred by a clan as the badge of its kinship. A carved totem.

A totem pole is a record of lineage and story rather than an object of worship. The word came into English from Ojibwe and is now used loosely for any symbol of a group.

Andrevruas · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of totem

  1. 1nountotemAn animal or natural object held sacred by a clan as the badge of its kinship, often carved on a tall wooden pole.C1

    “The totem outside the house recorded four generations.”

totem is a symbol.

Where it comes from

  1. oj

    doodem

  2. English, today

    totem

Borrowed from oj doodem.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

totem in the wild

  • The word totem derives from the Algonquian word odoodem meaning '(his) kinship group'.

    Totem pole

  • Kwanusila is a 12.2 meter tall totem pole carved from red cedar.

    Kwanusila

  • The conservation and restoration of totem poles is a relatively new topic in the field of art conservation.

    Conservation and restoration of totem poles

  • The original totem pole was carved in 1790 and raised in the Tlingit village on Tongass Island, Alaska to honor the Tlingit woman Chief-of-All-Women.

    Pioneer Square totem pole

  • The totem pole was later damaged by arson and a replica was commissioned and installed in its place in 1940, which is now designated a National Historic Landmark.

    Pioneer Square totem pole

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the doodem family

totem

totem — used about once every 3,827 pages · #8,859 · point at the bar for the others