sachem
sac·hem
noun
1.
a political leader (especially of Tammany Hall)
2.
a chief of a North American tribe or confederation (especially an Algonquian chief)
Origin
Borrowed from Narragansett sachem; compare Mi'kmaq saqamaw (“chief”) and Unami sakima (“chief”), all ultimately from Proto-Algonquian *sa·kima·wa. Doublet of sagamore.
Related words
Broader terms
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.