nocake
Syllables: no·cakeUK/ˈnəʊkeɪk//ˈnoʊˌkeɪk/
nocake noun: indian corn parched and pounded into meal (powder), used as food by Native Americans, sometimes mixed with maple sugar.
Noun
nocake (uncountable)
- Indian corn parched and pounded into meal (powder), used as food by Native Americans, sometimes mixed with maple sugar.
- If their imperious occaſions cauſe them to travell, the beſt of their victuals for their journey is Nocake, (as they call it) which is nothing but Indian Corne parched in the hot aſhes; the aſhes being ſifted from it, it is afterwards beaten to powder, and put into a long leatherne bag, truſſed at...1634, William Wood, “Of Their Dyet, Cookery, Meale-times, and Hospitality at Their Kettles”, in Nevv Englands Prospect. […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, page 68
- A ſmall pouch of parched corn, ground or rather pounded into meal, and called Nuichicke, which is well enough tranſlated Nocake, would ſupport them ſeveral days in their travelling, when they could get no other proviſions; [...]1760, [Thomas] Hutchinson, “Of the Original State of the Country, with Respect to the Inhabitants and Soil”, in The History of the Colony of Massachusets-Bay, […], 2nd edition, London: […] M....
Examples of nocake in a sentence
- Nookhick or nokehick, the Indian name of the meal of parched corn, was pronounced nocake, by the English, who sometimes hired Indian women to prepare it for them.[1863, Sylvester Judd, chapter XXXII, in History of Hadley, including the Early History of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby...
- This preparation of corn was called nocake or nookick. [...] It was held to be the most nourishing food known, and in the smallest and most condensed form.1898, Alice Morse Earle, “Indian Corn”, in Home Life in Colonial Days […], New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co....
- The Puritans raised corn (or maize) which they got from the Indians; and they soon learned the virtues of "nocake"—a name derived from the Indian of noohkik.1920 November 1, George S. Bryan, “Good Eating in Puritan Days”, in The Mentor, volume 8, number 17 (number 213 overall), New York, N.Y....
- For making nocake, Indian or "native" corn of the yellow variety is preferred.1930 January, Gladys Tantaquidgeon, “Notes on the Gay Head Indians of Massachusetts”, in Indian Notes, volume VII, number I, New York...
Synonyms of nocake
Origin of nocake
A respelling, probably influenced by cake, of nokehick, nokehike, which derives from an Algonquian language, probably Narragansett nokehick or Massachusett nookhik (“nocake”, literally “(that which is) pounded till soft”); the word is related to Abenaki nokhigan (“flour”), and English rokeag and yokeag.
Questions about nocake
- What does nocake mean?
- Nocake means indian corn parched and pounded into meal (powder), used as food by Native Americans, sometimes mixed with maple sugar.
- How do you use nocake in a sentence?
- Nookhick or nokehick, the Indian name of the meal of parched corn, was pronounced nocake, by the English, who sometimes hired Indian women to prepare it for them.
- What part of speech is nocake?
- Nocake is a noun.
- How do you pronounce nocake?
- Nocake is pronounced /ˈnəʊkeɪk/ (UK).
Words near nocake in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nocake (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-nocake.mp3.
Cite this entry: “nocake.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nocake. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.