Salish

American  

[say-lish] / ˈseɪ lɪʃ /

noun

1. a member of any of various North American Indian peoples speaking a Salishan language.

2. Also called Montana Salish, Séliš. an Interior Salish language of Montana and Washington spoken by the Flathead, Spokane, and Kalispel peoples.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of Salishan languages or their speakers.

Salish British  

/ ˈseɪlɪʃ, ˈsæl- /

noun

1. a family of North American Indian languages spoken in the northwestern US and W Canada

2. (functioning as plural) the peoples collectively who speak these languages, divided in Canada into the Coast Salish and the Interior Salish

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Etymology

Origin of Salish

First recorded in 1840–50; from Southern Interior Salish séʔliš literally, Flathead ¹ ( def. ), a self-designation

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Salish

If you happen to be swimming in the Salish Sea at night and imagine tiny hairy legs creeping up your body, there is now at least one unsettling reason that image feels plausible.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026

The discoveries mark the first new sea spider species formally described from the Salish Sea in nearly 100 years.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026

Both newly discovered species have now been registered in a global database, but Toler-Scott says the Salish Sea likely contains additional species that have yet to be documented.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026

Salish: I’ll go to Aritzia and probably Garage.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

It was the same technique that the Coast Salish peoples of the Northwest had used for centuries to fashion bentwood boxes out of single planks of cedar.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown