Chinook Jargon

American

[shi-nook jahr-guhn, -gon, -nook, chi-] / ʃɪˈnʊk ˌdʒɑr gən, -gɒn, -ˈnuk, tʃɪ- /

noun

a pidgin based largely on Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka), Lower Chinook, French, and English, once widely used as a lingua franca from Alaska to Oregon.

Chinook Jargon British

noun

a pidgin language containing elements of Native American languages, English, and French: formerly used among fur traders and Indians on the NW coast of North America

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Chinook Jargon

First recorded in 1830–40

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023