Skookum

Skookum is a Chinook Jargon word that has historical use in the Pacific Northwest. It has a range of meanings, commonly associated with an English translation of strong or monstrous. The word can mean strong,[1] greatest, powerful, ultimate, or brave. Something can be skookum, meaning "strong" or "monstrously significant". When used in reference to another person, e.g. "he's skookum", it conveys connotations of reliability or a monstrous nature, as well as strength, size or a hard-working nature.

  1. ^ Phillips, Walter Shelley (1913). The Chinook Book: A Descriptive Analysis of the Chinook Jargon in Plain Words, Giving Instructions for Pronunciation, Construction, Expression and Proper Speaking of Chinook with All the Various Shaded Meanings of the Words. Seattle: R. L. Davis Printing Co. pp. 86–87.