[in-oo-it, -yoo-] 
[in-oo-it, -yoo-] 
) -it for 1. | 1. | a member of the Eskimo 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. |
| In·nu·it (ĭn'yōō-ĭt) n. Variant of Inuit. |
| In·u·it also In·nu·it (ĭn'yōō-ĭt) n. pl. Inuit or In·u·its also Innuit or In·nu·its
[Inuit, pl. of inuk, human being, Eskimo.] Usage Note: The preferred term for the native peoples of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland is now Inuit, and the use of Eskimo in referring to these peoples is often considered offensive, especially in Canada. Inuit, the plural of the Inuit word inuk, "human being," is less exact in referring to the peoples of northern Alaska, who speak dialects of the closely related Inupiaq language, and it is inappropriate when used in reference to speakers of Yupik, the Eskimoan language branch of western Alaska and the Siberian Arctic. See Usage Note at Eskimo. |