Kickapoo

noun

Kick·​a·​poo ˈki-kə-ˌpü 

1

plural Kickapoo or Kickapoos : a member of an Indigenous people living in southern Wisconsin and Illinois in the eighteenth century

2

: a dialect of Fox (see fox sense 2)

Examples of Kickapoo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Part of a larger initiative to place the question in several townships around the state, the measure had already passed in several Illinois townships including Champaign, Cunningham, Peoria, Kickapoo, Medina, DuPage and Normal. — Cam'ron Hardy, Chicago Tribune, 29 Apr. 2026

The state’s layered history starts with its Native population, the Shawnee, Kickapoo and Erie and a large immigrant population that began to take shape in the mid-to-late 19th and early 20th centuries. — Dontaira Terrell, USA Today, 22 Apr. 2026

The treaty ended up displacing Potawatomi, Chippewa, Kickapoo and Odawa tribes. — Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 30 Mar. 2026

The Texas Department of Public Safety released footage of the arrest of the man accused of killing two and injuring five others in a shooting last year at Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino. — Jacob Beltran, San Antonio Express-News, 6 Mar. 2026

The Kickapoo’s original lands are located in present-day Illinois. — Chase Hunter, Mercury News, 27 Feb. 2026

The roadway named after the Moore High School graduate will extend from Interstate 44 east to I-35 near Indian Hills Road, continuing east and north to I- 40 at the Kickapoo Turnpike. — Barbara Hoberock, Oklahoman, 26 Feb. 2026

In Springfield, Missouri, more than 100 students gathered outside Kickapoo High School with anti-ICE signs, some proudly displaying a Mexican flag. — Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 31 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Kickapoo kiikaapoa, a self-designation, of uncertain origin

Note: The notion that the name derives from Kickapoo ki·wika·pa·wa, translated as "he stands about" or "he moves about, standing now here, now there" perhaps appears first in the article on the Kickapoo by James Mooney and William Jones in the Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, part 1 (1907), p. 684; it has been widely repeated since then. According to the editors of the Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 15, Northeast (Smithsonian Institution, 1978), p. 656, "this is a folk etymology and linguistically impossible."

First Known Use

1722, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for Kickapoo

• amadou
• avenue
• ballyhoo
• baraboo
• barbecue
• barbeque
• bugaboo
• cabildo
• caribou
• cockatoo
• detinue
• devalue