[puh-noo-tee-uh
n, -shuhn] 
| 1. | a group of American Indian language families of central and coastal California, including Wintu, Maidu, Yokuts, Miwok, and Costanoan, thought to be descendants of a single protolanguage spoken at a remote period. |
| 2. | any of several other hypothesized genetic groupings of languages that include these languages and, in addition, otherwise unclassified languages of the Pacific Northwest, Columbia River plateau, Mexico, and Central America. |
| 3. | of or pertaining to Penutian. |
| Pe·nu·ti·an (pə-nōō'tē-ən, -shən) n. A proposed stock of North American Indian languages spoken in Pacific coastal areas from California into British Columbia. [From the reconstructed words for "two" in two of its subgroups.] |