Maliseet
Americannoun
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Maliseets,
plural
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Maliseet
plural
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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:
The settlement for the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet, along with a 1991 agreement for the Mi’kmaq, stipulates they’re bound by state law and treated like municipalities in many cases.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 9, 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
That settlement for the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet, along with a 1991 agreement for the Mi’kmaq, all federally recognized, put the Maine tribes on a different footing from tribes elsewhere across the country.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 12, 2022
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
The studying of the Maliseet language was a new pleasure to Jean, and she made excellent progress.
From The King's Arrow A Tale of the United Empire Loyalists by H. A. (Hiram Alfred) Cody
We know, however, that the Maliseets continued hostile to the English.
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by W. O. (William Odber) Raymond
Here the Maliseets had a palisaded fort and large cabin, similar to that described by Lescarbot at the village Ouigoudy on Navy Island, where de Monts was welcomed by Chkoudun in 1604.
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by W. O. (William Odber) Raymond
This compliment the Maliseets paid to the French Governor Villebon, when he commanded at Fort Nachouac, and a like compliment was paid some sixty-five years ago to the late Moses H. Perley.
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by W. O. (William Odber) Raymond
Never in their history did the Maliseets receive such attention as in the Revolutionary war, when they may be said to have lived at the joint expense of the contending parties.
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by W. O. (William Odber) Raymond
Cadillac, writing in 1693, says: “The Maliseets are well shaped and tolerably warlike; they attend to the cultivation of the soil and grow the most beautiful Indian corn; their fort is at Medocktek.”
From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by W. O. (William Odber) Raymond
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.
