Inuit

or In·nu·it

[ in-oo-it, -yoo- ]

noun,plural In·u·its, (especially collectively) In·u·it for 1.
  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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Origin of Inuit

1
First recorded in 1755–65; from Inuit: literally, “people,” plural of inuk “person”

usage note For Inuit

See Eskimo, Indian.

Words Nearby Inuit

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use Inuit in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Inuit

Inuit

Innuit

/ (ˈɪnjuːɪt) /


nounplural -it or -its
  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

Origin of Inuit

1
from Inuktitut inuit the people, pl of inuk a man

Inuit

See Eskimo

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