Chinook Jargon
/tʃɪˈnʊk ˈdʒɑːrɡən/noun
A former trade language and contact language used among Indigenous peoples, settlers, and traders in the Pacific Northwest.
Did you know?Chinook Jargon was not simply “broken English”: it drew vocabulary from Chinookan languages, Nootka, French, English, and other regional languages, and some speakers used it as a first language.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact era
Chinookan
Tsinúk
“The ethnonym of the Chinook people, from whom the language’s name was taken; the deeper meaning is uncertain.”
18th Century
Pacific Northwest
Chinook trade speech
“A multilingual contact system used in regional trading and communication among Indigenous communities.”
Early 19th Century
French and English
jargon
“A term for specialized or difficult-to-understand speech; English adopted it through French.”
19th Century
English
Chinook Jargon
“The colonial-era English name for the expanding Pacific Northwest contact language.”
Late 19th–20th Century
Chinuk Wawa
Chinuk Wawa
“A revitalized and Indigenous-preferred name meaning “Chinook speech” or “Chinook language.””
Modern English
English
Chinook Jargon
“A historical term for the regional trade language, increasingly discussed alongside the name Chinuk Wawa.”
Explore more surprising origins