eskimo
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
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English
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Detailed reference entry for the English word "eskimo", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "eskimo" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "eskimo" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
Eskimo is aEnglishnoun. It means: A member of a group of indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic, from Siberia, through Alaska and Northern Canada, to Greenland, including the Inuit and Yupik. Pronounced /ˈɛs.kɪ.məʊ/.
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Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Eskimo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɛs.kɪ.məʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #28,912 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Eskimo is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɛs.kɪ.məʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,912 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for Eskimo, with forms such as "eksimo", "esikmo", and "eskimmo". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested since 1584, from French Esquimau, ultimately from an Old Montagnais term. Ives Goddard's theory, accepted by most linguists today, is that it derives from Montagnais ayaškimew (“snowshoe-netter”). An older theory, defended by John Steckley due to i… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is Eskimo, spelled E-S-K-I-M-O, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1A member of a group of indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic, from Siberia, through Alaska and Northern Canada, to Greenland, including the Inuit and Yupik.
- 2A dog of the American Eskimo breed.
- 3A dog of the Canadian Eskimo breed.
- 4A team member of the Canadian Football League's Edmonton Eskimos. (Obsolete as of 2020 with the team dropping this name in favour of Elks in 2021.)
Etymology
Attested since 1584, from French Esquimau, ultimately from an Old Montagnais term. Ives Goddard's theory, accepted by most linguists today, is that it derives from Montagnais ayaškimew (“snowshoe-netter”). An older theory, defended by John Steckley due to its greater acceptance in Native oral traditions, but discredited by linguists, is that it derives from a term meaning "eater(s) of raw meat". Details. * The theory most accepted among linguists today is that it derives from ayaškimew (“snowshoe-netter”) (compare Montagnais assime·w (“she laces a snowshoe”), Ojibwe ashkime (“s/he nets snowshoes”)), a term applied to the Mi'kmaq and apparently later transferred to the Labrador Inuit. * An older theory derives it from a term meaning "eaters of raw meat"; compare Cree askamiciw (“s/he eats it raw”) (Inuit are referred to in some Cree texts as askipiw, "eats something raw"). John Steckley argues in favor of this theory because of its greater acceptance in native oral traditions, and because the Huron, historical allies and trading partners of the Montagnais who loan-translated many names, also denote the Inuit using terms (e.g. Lorette Huron ok8ch iechronnon, Wyandot ok8chtronnon, both including -ok8ch- "to be raw") meaning "people of the raw", "people who eat something raw". In 1978, Montagnais-speaking Quebec anthropologist Jose Mailhot alternatively suggested Eskimo meant "people who speak a different language", but Steckley considers her theory unlikely. The term may have entered English via Spanish esquimao, esquimal (used by Basque fishermen in Labrador).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: eksimo,esikmo,eskimmo,eskiom,eskkimo,eskmio,esskimo,sekimo
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Eskimo
Misspelling Variants of "Eskimo"
Frequency rank: #28,912 in English
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Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter E in our English index: