I read an article this morning about an artist who built tipis. I must admit that at 76 years of age and wisdom I have never seen the word TIPI except for Tippi Hedren Them pointy things are TEEPEEs to me. A Wiki search claims that TIPI is the more common spelling. I did a newspaper search and TEEPEE got 162,000 hits. TIPI got 700,000 hits but many were from various meanings and fragments and it was difficult to get a sense of how many hits referred to the Native American dwelling. But it looks like the majority did mean the dwelling.
For what it’s worth the Straight Dope spell checker does not like tipi. I’m from Ohio. Which version do you use?
Obviously, not every Native American dwelling is a tipi. Conversely, non-Americans may construct tipis (though they would probably not call them that, nor would all native Americans, which seems like an opportunity where you could inadvertently use the wrong word). Also maybe not everyone knows the difference between a tipi, chum, yurt etc. (and one real difference is simply the language of the nomad in question, so talking about teepees with a Yupik may be another kind of faux pas)
There are lots of different Native American dwellings; the teepee (tipi) was and is used mainly by the tribes from the Great Plains. I don’t think it’s disparaging, it’s the correct name. Same as wigwam, pueblo, longhouse, or hogan.
I got so worked up over using and spelling tipis and wigwams that I though I was turning into them. My doctor said to relax, I was too tense.
ETA: Using Google ngrams, it looks like tipi was much bigger around 1900, with tepee behind, but now tipi, tepee, and teepee are all pretty close. I only know tepee from NYT Spelling Bee and had only noticed it as “teepee” growing up.
I have always used the spelling “teepee”. I grew up in WV and have lived in WV, MD, and PA.
Poking around on google, tipi, teepee, and tepee are apparently all considered to be “correct” in English. But then if you really want to be “correct” about it, it comes from the Siouan “thipi”. But then for different versions of “correct”, the AP style book says “tipi” is the only “correct” version.
The word was used in the Dakota and Lakota Siouan languages, and came to English through the Lakota in the 1700s as “ti pee”.
I’ve certainly known some who did, including a couple of people who lived in them for a while. And they used “tipi”.
Very nice spaces to be in. – at least in the 70’s you could get them pre-made (yes of course you still can, I just looked), all the materials ready to put together; generally canvas rather than skin.
“Tipi” looks more respectful to me than “teepee”, somehow.
I have never seen the word “tipi” before and just reading it I would not even think it was referring to a teepee because it looks like it should be pronounced “tippy.”
To me, spelling it tipi makes it look like the /i/ (“ee” sound) would be short. But I’ve only ever heard “teepee” said with the vowels longer, as if you were saying the words tea and pee.
To be clear, I mean literally longer, not the “long I” sound or anything like that.
I’ve seen “tipi” become more common in the 21st century. Teepee was definitely the spelling used when I was growing up, but “tipi” seems to be considered more “authentic”.
I would have thought Tipis, Tepees, Teepees: History and Design of the Cloth Tipi by Linda A. Holley (2006) to have the definitive answer, but a quick read doesn’t find any explanation for the variance. She quotes lots of historic references and they’re all over the place, including people who used both tepee and teepee.
That’s what I call them. I’ve always assumed the other word was disparaging in some way.