Eskimo Definition

ĕskə-mō

eskimos

noun

A member of a group of indigenous North American peoples thinly scattered in areas extending from Greenland across N Canada and Alaska through the NE tip of Asia.

Webster's New World

Any of the languages of the Eskimos, belonging to the Eskimo-Aleut language family.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Synonyms:
esquimau
inuit
husky

pronoun

A group of indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic, from Siberia, through Alaska and Northern Canada, to Greenland, including the Inuit and Yupik.

Wiktionary

Any of the languages of the Eskimo.

Wiktionary

adjective

Of the Eskimos or their languages or cultures.

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Eskimo

Noun

Singular:

Eskimo

Plural:

eskimos

Origin of Eskimo

First attested 1584 in the (now obsolete) spelling Esquimawe, from French Esquimaux (“Eskimos (plural)”), from Spanish esquimao, esquimal (used by Basque fishermen in Labrad), from Old Montagnais ayaškimew (“snowshoe-netter”) (compare Montagnais assime·w (“she laces a snowshoe”), Ojibwe aškime·, aagimike). The name was originally applied by the Innu people to the Mi'kmaq and later transferred to the Labrador Inuit; see the usage notes below. It was also once thought to mean "eaters of raw meat", but most authorities now dismiss this.

From Wiktionary
French Esquimaux possibly from Spanish esquimao, esquimal from Montagnais ayashkimew Micmac

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition