Aleut
/əˈluːt/noun
A member of the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands and nearby regions, or their traditional language.
Did you know?The Aleut people commonly call themselves Unangan or Unangax̂, while “Aleut” entered English through Russian and may derive from an Indigenous term or the Chukchi word for “island.”
Etymological Timeline
Before the 18th Century
Unangam Tunuu
Unangan / Unangax̂
“Traditional self-designations of the Aleut people; the exact relationship to the later word Aleut is uncertain.”
18th Century
Russian
алеут (aleut)
“A name used by Russian explorers and colonizers for the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands.”
18th Century
English
Aleut
“Borrowed from Russian usage during English-language exploration and documentation of the North Pacific.”
19th Century
English
Aleutian
“A geographical adjective formed in English from Aleut, referring to the island chain.”
Modern English
English
Aleut
“An ethnonym for the people, and also the name of their language; the ultimate origin remains disputed.”