The word 'wampum' is a direct borrowing into English from the Massachusett language, an Algonquian language spoken by Indigenous peoples in what is now New England. It originates from the Massachusett word 'wampumpeag', which literally meant 'white strings of shell beads', combining elements for 'white' and 'string'. European colonists encountered and adopted the term in the early 17th century, initially referring specifically to the white beads made from the inner spiral of whelk shells, which held great cultural and economic significance. Over time, the term shortened to 'wampum' and its meaning generalized in English, first to denote the shell-bead currency itself and later, informally, to money in general.

This word is a simplex loanword from an Algonquian language. It is not productively formed from separable English or classical morphemes.