Il·li·nois 1 
(ĭl′ə-noi)
(ĭl′ə-noi)n. pl. Illinois
1. A member of a confederacy of Native American peoples formerly inhabiting southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and parts of eastern Iowa and Missouri, with a present-day population mostly in Oklahoma.
2. The Algonquian language of the Illinois.
[French, variant of earlier ilinoüek, of Algonquian origin, perhaps meaning "those who speak normally" and ultimately from Proto-Algonquian *elen-, regular, ordinary, in Algonquian fashion + *we·-, make sound, speak.]