the word 'succotash' entered english in the 18th century, borrowed from the narragansett word 'msíckquatash', which referred to a dish of boiled corn kernels. it is a prime example of the linguistic and culinary exchange between indigenous peoples of north america and english settlers. the narragansett term itself is built from components meaning 'corn' and 'beans', the core ingredients of the dish. as the recipe was adopted, the word was anglicized in spelling and pronunciation to its current form, preserving the name of a dish that remains a traditional staple.

this word is a loanword from narragansett, an algonquian language. it is not productively formed from classical greek or latin morphemes within english, so it is treated as an unsegmentable simplex.