Chinook Jargon

[shi-nook jahr-guhn, -gon, -nook, chi-]

noun

1. 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

noun

1. 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Chinook Jargon¹

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Chinook Jargon is a language developed in the Puget Sound region in the mid-19th century that served as “a mix of languages for the diverse peoples that lived here to facilitate trade,” Rudrud said.

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Chinook Jargon, the trade language of Oregon: Id., ib.

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Among his smaller volumes he had found a travel book of the "Chinook Jargon," with a lexicon of many of the words commonly used by the Northern Pacific tribes.

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The event name, Klahowya, is Chinook Jargon for “welcome,” and it’s the phrase these diverse groups of people greeted each other with at the time.

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