Maliseet
Americannoun
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Also called Wolastoqiyik. a member of an Indigenous people of southern and western New Brunswick and northern Maine.
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Also called Wolastoqey. the Eastern Algonquian language of the Maliseet, mutually intelligible with Passamaquoddy.
adjective
noun
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a member of a Native Canadian people of New Brunswick and E Quebec
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the Algonquian language of this people
Sensitive Note
The word Maliseet comes from a Mi’kmaq word meaning “he speaks slowly; he speaks unintelligibly.” Because of this word origin, and because Maliseet is not this people's own name for themselves, the term is sometimes considered offensive. The group's self-designation is Wolastoqiyik, and their language is called Wolastoqey.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Maliseet
First recorded in 1740–50; earlier Malecite, from French Malécite, from Mi'kmaq mali⋅sit “he speaks slowly; he speaks unintelligibly”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That settlement for the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet, along with a 1991 agreement for the Mi’kmaq, put the tribes in Maine on a different path from others elsewhere in the country.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
But the bill would allow the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet and Mi’kmaq tribes in the state to benefit from more than 150 federal laws that apply to tribes.
From Washington Times ● May 31, 2023
Yet in our recent study, we found the Wabanaki Nations in Maine – Maliseet, Mi'kmaq, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot – and their 9,546 citizens have been left out of this progress.
From Salon ● Feb. 15, 2023
Greenlaw, a Maliseet forestry scientist working on her PhD at the University of Maine, is at the forefront of the effort to protect the state’s brown ash.
From The Verge ● Nov. 25, 2019
However this Thoma was not our old Maliseet chief, for Mr. Wood observes of him, “Old King Thoma looks upon himself as hereditary king of the Mickmacks.”
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
His last general conference with the Maliseets was at Oromocto in the month of November, 1781, when he distributed presents to nearly four hundred Indians who had assembled there.
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
Nor was it by any means a false alarm, for on the 8th of December about 300 Micmacs and Maliseets surprised and captured an English officer and eighteen men and attacked the fort at Minas.
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
The name Pierre Thoma was very common among both the Micmacs and the Maliseets, so common indeed as to make it difficult to distinguish between individuals.
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
The opinion long prevailed in Acadia that the Maliseets, were a more powerful and ferocious tribe than the Micmacs; nevertheless there is no record or tradition of any conflict between them.
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
Recently Father Loverja had come to stay with the Maliseets of Medoctec in consequence of their urgent request for a missionary, their village being eighteen leagues from Aukpaque, where Father Germain was stationed.
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
