Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The members of various Eskimoan peoples inhabiting the Arctic from northwest Alaska eastward to eastern Greenland, particularly those inhabiting Canada.
  • noun The family of languages spoken by the Inuit.
  • noun Any of the languages spoken by the Inuit.
  • adjective Of or relating to the Inuit or the languages spoken by the Inuit.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Plural form of Inuk. Any of several Aboriginal peoples of coastal Arctic Canada, Alaska, and Greenland.
  • noun nonstandard Individual members of the Inuit peoples.
  • proper noun Inuktitut, the Inuit language.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to Inuit people, language, or culture.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a member of a people inhabiting the Arctic (northern Canada or Greenland or Alaska or eastern Siberia); the Algonquians called them Eskimo (`eaters of raw flesh') but they call themselves the Inuit (`the people')

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Inuit, pl. of inuk, human being, Eskimo.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested 1755–65. From Inuktitut inuit ("the people"), singular inuk ("person"), from Proto-Eskimo *inguɣ

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Inuit.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • plural of Inuk

    May 29, 2011