Yupik

[ yoo-pik ]

noun

, plural Yu·piks, (especially collectively) Yu·pik

1. a member of any of several Indigenous peoples inhabiting western coastal Alaska from Prince William Sound north to Norton Sound, and St. Lawrence Island and the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula of Siberia.
2. any of the Eskimo-Aleut languages spoken by the Yupik.

Yupik

/ ˈjuːpɪk /

noun

1. an aboriginal people of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and E Siberia
2. any of the languages of this people
3. of or relating to the Yupik people or their languages Compare Inuit Inuktitut

Word History and Origins

Origin of Yupik¹

First recorded in 1950–55; from Central Alaskan Yup'ik Yup'ik, a self-designation, equivalent to yuk “human being, person” + -pik “real”