Hooch

/huːtʃ/ noun

Definition

Strong liquor or alcohol, especially cheap or illegally made alcohol.

Etymology

From the Tlingit people's word 'hutch' (a type of liquor), named for Hoochinoo, a village in Alaska; Americans during Prohibition used this term for illegal homemade alcohol.

Kelly Says

Hooch is a rare case where English borrowed a word directly from Alaska Native languages—it came from 'Hoochinoo,' a Tlingit village, and became slang for illegal whiskey during Prohibition when bootleggers needed codewords.

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