Quinzhee

Exterior of a quinzhee, facing the entrance

A quinzhee or quinzee /ˈkwɪnziː/ is a Canadian snow shelter made from a large pile of loose snow that is shaped, then hollowed. This is in contrast to an igloo, which is built up from blocks of hard snow, and a snow cave, constructed by digging into the snow. The word is of Athabaskan origin[1][2] and entered the English language by 1984.[3] A quinzhee can be made for winter camping and survival purposes, or for fun.

A similar, but more elaborate snow house is called a lumitalo.[4]

  1. ^ Allen & Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book: Traveling and Camping Skills for a Winter Environment, Allen O'Bannon, illustrations by Mike McClelland, Chockstone Press, 1996, ISBN 1-57540-076-6, pg. 80-86.
  2. ^ Streever, Bill (2009). Cold: Adventures in the World's Frozen Places. New York: Little, Brown and Company. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-316-04291-8.
  3. ^ "Does English still borrow words from other languages?". BBC News Online. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-05. Some examples that the Oxford English Dictionary suggests entered English during the past 30 years include tarka dal, a creamy Indian lentil dish (1984, from Hindi), quinzhee, a type of snow shelter (1984, from Slave or another language of the Pacific Coast of North America), popiah, a type of Singaporean or Malaysian spring roll (1986, from Malay), izakaya, a type of Japanese bar serving food (1987), affogato, an Italian dessert made of ice cream and coffee (1992).
  4. ^ Remlinger, Kathryn (2016). "Say Yah to da Finns, Eh! Linguistically Performing Finnishness at Festivals" (PDF). Journal of Finnish Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 22, 2022.