/wah kash"euhn, waw"keuh shan'/ , n.
a family of American Indian languages spoken in British Columbia and Washington and including esp. Kwakiutl and Nootka.
[ 1895; coined by J.W. Powell from Wakash, used as the name of a Nootka subgroup but orig. a misapplication of Nootka wa·ka·š bravo!; see -AN ]