Chipewyan

noun

Chip·e·wy·an

variants or Chippewaian or Chippewyan

ˌchipəˈwīən

plural Chipewyan or Chipewyans or Chippewaian or Chippewaians or Chippewyan or Chippewyans

: an Athapaskan people closely related to the Slave and Yellowknife people and living north of the Churchill river between the Great Slave lake and the Slave and Athabaska rivers on the west and Hudson Bay on the east

: a member of such people

: the language of the Chipewyan people

Word History

Etymology

Cree Chipwayanawok, literally, pointed skins, from chipwa pointed + weyanaw skin + -ok (suffix denoting plural); from their pointed skin shirts or parkas