Maliseet
Americannoun
plural
Maliseets,plural
Maliseet-
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.
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.
That 1980 settlement for the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet, along with a 1991 agreement for the Mi’kmaq, set the tribes apart from others in the country.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 22, 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, mean the tribes are subject to state law even though they’re federally recognized.
From Washington Times • Apr. 13, 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 Cody, H. A. (Hiram Alfred)
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.
