Inuit

American  

[in-oo-it, -yoo-] / ˈɪn u ɪt, -yu- /

Or Innuit

noun

PLURAL

Inuits

PLURAL

Inuit

1. a member of a group of Indigenous peoples inhabiting northernmost North America from northern Alaska to eastern Canada and Greenland.

2. the language of the Inuit, a member of the Eskimo-Aleut family comprising a variety of dialects.

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Inuit British  

/ ˈɪnjuːɪt /

noun

1. any of several Native peoples of N America or Greenland, as distinguished from those from Asia or the Aleutian Islands (who are still generally referred to as Eskimos); the preferred term for Eskimo in N America Compare Yupik

2. the language of these peoples; Inuktitut

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Sensitive Note

See Eskimo, Indian.

Etymology

Origin of Inuit

First recorded in 1755–65; from Inuit: literally, “people,” plural of inuk “person”

Compare meaning

How does inuit compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Eskimo vs. Inuit

Example Sentences

One evening I retired to my cabin with assurances that we would reach our destination, the small Inuit hamlet of Arctic Bay, early the next morning.

From The Wall Street Journal

Among the artefacts being returned is an Inuit kayak that had historically been used to hunt whales in Canada's far north, and a set of embroidered gloves that came from the Cree Nation.

From BBC

Alaskan Malamutes take their name from an Inuit tribe that settled along the shores of Kotzebue Sound in north-western Alaska, according to the American Kennel Club.

From BBC

The Nunalik, one of the few Western cargo vessels capable of operating in the Arctic, mainly transports goods to remote Canadian Inuit communities, which depend on outside supplies for nearly everything.

From The Wall Street Journal

He plans on hiring Alaska Natives as support staff for his crew, likely because at the time it was assumed that all Inuit had expert arctic survival skills.

From The Wall Street Journal