Inuit

Alternative forms

• Innuit

Etymology

First attested 1755–65. From Inuktitut ᐃᓄᐃᑦ (inoit, “the people”), singular ᐃᓄᒃ (inok, “person”), from Proto-Inuit *inuɣ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪnjuːɪt/, /ˈɪnuːɪt/, /ˈɪnʊɪt/, /ˈɪnjuːɛt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

Inuit (plural Inuit or (rare) Inuits)

1. A member of any of several Aboriginal peoples of coastal Arctic Canada, Alaska, and Greenland.

Noun

Inuit

1. plural of Inuk

Proper noun

Inuit

1. Inuktitut, the Inuit language.

Adjective

Inuit (comparative more Inuit, superlative most Inuit)

1. Of or pertaining to Inuit people, language, or culture.

Usage notes

The collective term in English for the northernmost indigenous peoples of North America used to be Eskimo, an exonym that has since declined in usage as greater interaction between both language groups. There is a dialect continuum stretching roughly east-west, Alaska to Greenland, of Inuit language varieties, with neighbouring regions' being mutual intelligible but farther separated groups having less linguistic overlap—vocabulary for shared concepts are usually cognates. Yupik peoples of western Alaska (and small proportion in the islands and coast of Russian Far East) speak languages closely related to those of Inuit but without significant intelligibility (unless learned). Inuit and Yupik languages comprise the family referred to as either Eskimo or Inuit-Yupik.

Inuit is the usual term in Canada (often grouped into western and eastern categories); is accepted as the continental umbrella term in Greenland but not for their of languages or group; and has gained some currency in the United States. However, Eskimo continues to be the prevalent name in Alaska for both the Inuit Inupiat people and the non-Inuit Yupik. Also note that the terms Inuit and Eskimo do not include the related Aleut people (Unangam, see also Eskaleut), nor the other Native (First Nations) peoples of the Arctic.

Many dictionaries do not list Inuits as a plural form. Inuit is usually used as an ethnonym with no singular form (like Chinese). The need to treat Inuit as a singular has been obviated by wider recognition of its etymological singular form Inuk in recent times.

References

• Katherine Barber, editor (1998), “Inuit”, in The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.
• “Inuit”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Inuit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Eskimo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Inuktitut on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Inuit language on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology

From Inuktitut ᐃᓄᐃᑦ (inoit, “the people”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.nɥit/; /i.nwit/

Noun

Inuit m (plural Inuits, feminine Inuite)

1. Inuit (people)

References

• Inuit/Inuk (Recommandation linguistique du Bureau de la traduction)

Noun

Inuit

1. plural of Inuk