ESKIMO

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Eskimo mean? 

• ESKIMO (noun)
  The noun ESKIMO has 2 senses:

1. 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')

2. the language spoken by the Eskimo

  Familiarity information: ESKIMO used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ESKIMO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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')

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Eskimo; Esquimau; Inuit

Hypernyms ("Eskimo" is a kind of...):

Amerindian; Native American (any member of the peoples living in North or South America before the Europeans arrived)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The language spoken by the Eskimo

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Eskimo; Esquimau

Hypernyms ("Eskimo" is a kind of...):

Eskimo-Aleut; Eskimo-Aleut language (the family of languages that includes Eskimo and Aleut)

 Context examples 

The two main groups referred to as Eskimo are the Yupik and Inuit.

(Eskimo, NCI Thesaurus)

Mackenzie hounds, Eskimo and Labrador dogs, huskies and Malemutes—all tried it on him, and all failed.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Health Research affecting Inuit/Eskimo populations.

(Arctic Research, NCI Thesaurus)

The American Eskimo is a white Spitz-type dog.

(American Eskimo Dog, NCI Thesaurus)

In Alaska, the term Eskimo is commonly used, because it includes both Yupik and Inupiat, while Inuit is not accepted as a collective term.

(Inuit, NCI Thesaurus)

The concept refers to population subgroups such as Eskimos, Aleuts, Inupiat, Yupik, Alutiiq, Egegik,and Pribilovian, Alaskan Athabascan, Tlingit, and Haida.

(Alaska Native, NCI Thesaurus)

In Canada and Greenland, the term Eskimo has fallen out of favor, as it is considered pejorative by the natives and has been replaced by the term Inuit.

(Eskimo, NCI Thesaurus)