Sôhkahpinêw (ᓲᐦᑲᐦᐱᓀᐤ) is the Cree word on our Sôhkahpinêw Wolf T-Shirt. In our words, it means to be resilient: to endure pain with inner strength.
The meaning, in our words
Some days test your body. Some days test your mind. Pain shows up in the gym and in life. But you don't fold. You push through. That strength is built, not given.
That is the text we wrote for the design, and it is printed on the Meanings artwork for the Wolf tee.
Why a wolf?
The wolf on the back of the shirt carries the idea of endurance. It is the design we made for hard days: hard training sessions, and the harder days outside the gym.
Why Cree words on gym clothes?
XUSI started with two things: Indigenous identity and fitness. Putting a Cree word on a training shirt is a way to carry language into everyday life, where people will see it, ask about it and learn it. You can read about every word we use on our Meanings page.
Related words
- âhkamêyimow: to persevere, to keep going, to push through. See the Âhkamêyimow T-Shirt.
- sôhkahtwâwin: resilience. See the Resilience T-Shirt.
About the shirt
The Sôhkahpinêw Wolf T-Shirt is one of our standard tees: 100% cotton, shrink free, with a heavy, sturdy feel and a generous fit, printed front and back. Check the size guide, and we ship across Canada from Saskatoon.
How people wear it
The Wolf tee was made for the gym first: lifting days, conditioning, long sessions. It also works as an everyday tee with jeans and an A-frame snapback. The graphic is printed front and back, so the word and the wolf are seen coming and going.
Learning the word
If you are learning Cree, say it slowly and in parts: sôh-kah-pi-nêw. The circumflex marks (ô, ê) show long vowels in the standard Roman orthography, and the syllabics ᓲᐦᑲᐦᐱᓀᐤ spell the same word in Cree syllabics. Hearing it from a fluent speaker is always the best way to learn.
More designs with meaning
Every XUSI design carries a word or story. Browse our Indigenous t-shirts or read all the meanings on the Meanings page.
Written by XUSI, an Indigenous-owned clothing and screen printing brand from Saskatoon on Treaty 6 territory. Our story · What the words mean