(among Algonquian people) an evil spirit or cannibal
2. Word forms: plural-go or -gos another name for splake
Word origin
from Algonquian: evil spirit or cannibal
windigo in American English
(ˈwɪndɪˌɡou)
noun
1. (in the folklore of the Ojibwa and other Native American peoples)
a cannibalistic giant, the transformation of a person who has eaten human flesh
2. Psychiatry
a culture-specific syndrome occurring primarily among the Ojibwa and related Indian peoples and characterized by fever-induced delusions that one is being possessed by such a giant
Also called: witigo
Word origin
[1705–15; ‹ Ojibwa wi⋅ntiko⋅; c. Cree wi⋅htiko⋅w]This word is first recorded in the period 1705–15. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Romanesque, encore, salon, shellac, zigzag