Pogonip is a noun referring to a dense winter fog containing frozen particles, common in deep mountain valleys of the western US. The term comes from the Shoshone word 'payinappih', meaning 'cloud'.
Pogonip es un sustantivo que se refiere a una densa niebla invernal con partículas congeladas, común en los valles montañosos profundos del oeste de Estados Unidos. El término proviene de la palabra Shoshone "payinappih", que significa "nube".
| Word | pogonip |
|---|---|
| Date | December 31, 2007 |
| Type | noun |
| Syllables | PAH-guh-nip |
| Etymology | Readers of The Old Farmer's Almanac might recognize the odd-sounding warning, "Beware the pogonip!" So what's a pogonip? In the mountains of the western United States, the fog condenses into tiny, biting ice particles in extremely cold weather. The English-speaking settlers who encountered this unpleasant and sometimes scary phenomenon when they went out West in the 1800s needed a word for it. They borrowed "payinappih" ("cloud") from Shoshone, altering it to "pogonip." |
| Examples | "The white wafer sun sports a halo, and nearby hills are veiled in pogonip." (Bill Croke, The American Spectator, March 1997) |
| Definition | : a dense winter fog containing frozen particles that is formed in deep mountain valleys of the western United States |
Tags: wordoftheday::noun
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