This word appears to have been derived by folk etymology from earlier woodshock, q.v., itself a folk etymology meaningfisher, q.v., from an Algonkian word of similar meaning, as Cree o(t)chāk, which also came into English aswejack, q.v. At some time in the eighteenth century the termwoodshockappears to have been transferred from the fisher to the groundhog, in which sense the alterationwoodchuckhas become generalized.