Mohican

views updated Jun 11 2018

Mohican a member of an Algonquian people formerly inhabiting part of Connecticut, or their language; a Mohegan. Although the spelling Mohegan is now preferred, Mohican is also found in modern use after J. Fenimore Cooper's usage in The Last of the Mohicans (1826) and other novels. In these stories, the American Indian Uncas is the last survivor of his people; the phrase last of the Mohicans is now used for the sole survivor of a noble race or kind.

From the 1960s, Mohican has been used to designate a hairstyle with the head shaved except for a strip of hair from the middle of the forehead to the back of the neck, typically stiffened to stand erect or in spikes. The style imitates a traditional deer-hair topknot worn by males of certain northeastern American Indian peoples, and is probably so named from conventional illustrations of the writings of J. Fenimore Cooper.

Mohican

views updated Jun 27 2018

Mohican (Mahican) Algonquian-speaking tribe of Native North Americans, formerly inhabiting the upper Hudson valley in New York, and the area e of the Housatonic River in Connecticut, USA. They once numbered about 3000. Today, the surviving 525 Mohicans occupy the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in Wisconsin.

Mohican

views updated Jun 08 2018

Mo·hi·can / mōˈhēkən/ • adj. & n. old-fashioned variant spelling of Mahican or Mohegan.