Allegheny

English

Alternative forms

• Alleghany, Allegany

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Unami welhìk (“good”) + hane (“river (in compounds)”). (Heckewelder alleged that the name was connected to a mythical Allegewi tribe, but this is probably spurious.) The name of the Ohio river, which the Lenape and Iroquois considered to be part of the same single river as the Allegheny, means the same thing in Seneca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æl.ɨˈɡeɪ.ni/

Proper noun

Allegheny (plural Alleghenies)

1. (with "the") The Allegheny River in Pennsylvania.
2. Allegheny Mountain (Pennsylvania), a major mountain ridge in the northern part of the Allegheny Mountains.
3. Allegheny Mountain (West Virginia – Virginia), a major mountain ridge in the southern part of the Allegheny Mountains.
4. (dated, attributively) The Allegheny Mountains.
5. (dated, attributively) Appalachia(n).
6. Any of several towns or counties in Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky.

Usage notes

• Often used attributively in proper names of places and institutions.

Derived terms

• Allegheny County
• Alleghenian, Alleghanian

Descendants

• Translingual: allegheniensis