Inuit
noun pl. Inuit or Inuits
- a member of a group of indigenous people of N North America, inhabiting areas from Greenland and E Canada to Alaska
- the language of this people, belonging to the Eskimo-Aleut language family
- Eskimo (): in this sense, Inuit is now the preferred term in Canada
See Inuit in American Heritage Dictionary 4
also In·nu·it (ĭnˈyo͞o-ĭt)
noun pl. Inuit Inuit or
In·u·its also
Innuit or
In·nu·its - A member of a group of Eskimoan peoples inhabiting the Arctic from northern Alaska eastward to eastern Greenland, particularly those of Canada.
a. The family of languages spoken by the Inuit.
b. Any of the languages spoken by the Inuit.
Usage Note: The preferred term for the native peoples of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland is now
Inuit, and the use of
Eskimo in referring to these peoples is often considered offensive, especially in Canada.
Inuit, the plural of the Inuit word
inuk, “human being,” is less exact in referring to the peoples of northern Alaska, who speak dialects of the closely related Inupiaq language, and it is inappropriate when used in reference to speakers of Yupik, the Eskimoan language branch of western Alaska and the Siberian Arctic. See Usage Note at
Eskimo.
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