totem

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a natural being or object that serves as the emblem of a kinship group and may have a special spiritual relationship with it

   The bear served as the clan's totem in the traditional account.

2. 2
   noun

   a person or thing regarded as an emblem or powerful symbol of a group or idea

   The ruined factory became a totem of the town's industrial past.

Borrowed through early colonial spellings from Ojibwe doodem, 'clan' or 'kinship group.' English shifted the term toward the animal, plant, or object associated with such a group, and later extended it figuratively to any potent emblem or symbol.

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