The Inuit are a race of people descended from the original people of Eastern Canada and Greenland.
Inuit in British English
or Innuit (ˈɪnjuːɪt)
nounWord forms: plural-it or -its
1.
any of several Native peoples of N America or Greenland, as distinguished from those from Asia or the Aleutian Islands; the preferred term for Eskimo in N America
Compare Yupik
2.
the language of these peoples; Inuktitut
▶ USAGE See note at Eskimo
Word origin
from Inuktitut inuit the people, pl of inuk a man
Inuit in American English
(ˈinuːɪt, -juː-) or Innuit (ˈinuːɪt, -juː-)
nounWord forms: plural(for 1)-its or esp collectively -it
1.
a member of the peoples inhabiting northernmost North America from northern Alaska to eastern Canada and Greenland
2.
the language of the Inuit, a member of the Eskimo-Aleut family comprising a variety of dialects
Also called: InupikThe name inuit, by which the native people of the Arctic from northern Alaska to western Greenlandcall themselves, has largely supplanted eskimo in Canada and is used officially by the Canadian government. It has also come tobe used in a wider sense, to name all people formerly called eskimo, regardless of local self-designations.