Eskimo (redirected from Eskimos)

Es·ki·mo  (sk-m)

n. pl. Eskimo or Es·ki·mos

1.

a. A group of peoples inhabiting the Arctic coastal regions of North America and parts of Greenland and northeast Siberia.

b. A member of any of these peoples. See Usage Note at Native American.

2. Any of the languages of the Eskimo peoples.

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[French Esquimaux, possibly from Spanish esquimao, esquimal, from Montagnais ayashkimew, Micmac.]

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Eski·moan adj.

Usage Note: Eskimo has come under strong attack in recent years for its supposed offensiveness, and many Americans today either avoid this term or feel uneasy using it. It is widely known that Inuit, a term of ethnic pride, offers an acceptable alternative, but it is less well understood that Inuit cannot substitute for Eskimo in all cases, being restricted in usage to the Inuit-speaking peoples of Arctic Canada and parts of Greenland. In Alaska and Arctic Siberia, where Inuit is not spoken, the comparable terms are Inupiaq and Yupik, neither of which has gained as wide a currency in English as Inuit. While use of these terms is often preferable when speaking of the appropriate linguistic group, none of them can be used of the Eskimoan peoples as a whole; the only inclusive term remains Eskimo. · The claim that Eskimo is offensive is based primarily on a popular but disputed etymology tracing its origin to an Abenaki word meaning "eaters of raw meat." Though modern linguists speculate that the term actually derives from a Montagnais word referring to the manner of lacing a snowshoe, the matter remains undecided, and meanwhile many English speakers have learned to perceive Eskimo as a derogatory term invented by unfriendly outsiders in scornful reference to their neighbors' unsophisticated eating habits. See Usage Note at Inuit.

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Eskimo

Noun

1. pl -mos or -mo a member of a group of peoples who live in N Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and E Siberia

2. the language of these peoples

Adjective

of the Eskimos [Algonquian esquimawes]

USAGE: The peoples native to the area from western Greenland to NW Canada prefer to be called Inuit rather than Eskimo

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	Eskimo - a member of a people inhabiting the Arctic (northern Canada or Greenland or Alaska or eastern Siberia); the Algonquians called them Eskimo (`eaters of raw flesh') but they call themselves the Inuit (`the people') Esquimau, Inuit American Indian, Indian, Red Indian - a member of the race of people living in America when Europeans arrived
	2.	Eskimo - the language spoken by the Eskimo Esquimau Eskimo-Aleut, Eskimo-Aleut language - the family of languages that includes Eskimo and Aleut

Translations

Eskimo [ˈɛskɪməu] adj → esquimal

n → esquimal m/f;

(LING) → esquimal m

Eskimo [ˈɛskɪməu] adj → esquimau(de) → eskimo

n → Esquimau(de);

(Ling) → esquimau m

Eskimo [ˈɛskɪməu] n → Eskimo(frau) m(f)

Eskimo [ˈɛskɪməu] adj → eschimese

n → eschimese m/f;

(LING) → eschimese m