A North American freshwater fish, specifically a large-mouth bass, named from a Naskapi Cree or Mi'kmaq word for the species.
From Eastern Algonquian languages, particularly resembling Naskapi/Cree words. The term was adopted by French colonists in Canada and appears in early naturalist literature describing North American fauna.
The word 'achigan' shows how early European explorers literally couldn't describe American animals without borrowing Indigenous names—they had no choice but to adopt languages they barely understood.
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