totem - definition, synonyms and pronunciation

Open English WordNet

Noun (2)

a clan or tribe identified by their kinship to a common totemic objectType of kin, kin groupMembers totemist
emblem consisting of an object such as an animal or plant; serves as the symbol of a family or clan (especially among American Indians)Type of emblem

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

To′tem noun

Origin: Massachusetts Indian wutohtimoin that to which a person or place belongs.

1. A rude picture, as of a bird, beast, or the like, used by the North American Indians as a symbolic designation, as of a family or a clan; also, the object or animal itself, considered as an symbol of the family.

And they painted on the grave posts Of the graves, yet unforgotten, Each his own ancestral totem Each the symbol of his household; Figures of the bear and reindeer, Of the turtle, crane, and beaver.— Henry W. Longfellow

The totem, the clan deity, the beast or bird who in some supernatural way attends to the clan and watches over it.— Walter Bagehot

2. Anything which serves as a venerated or mystic symbol or emblem.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: GCIDE editors