Did you know that 'eskimo' is actually French?

'Eskimo' is a word borrowed from French 'esquimaux'. The word entered the English language some time around 1584.

eskimo [noun] [1584]

• a member of a group of peoples of northern Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and eastern Siberia
• any of the languages of the Eskimo peoples

See 'eskimo' on the Loan Words Map

See more loan words from French.

Etymology: Obsolete 'Esquimawe' probably from Spanish 'esquimao' from Montagnais (Algonquian language of eastern Canada) 'aiachkime8' Micmac, Eskimo; probably akin to modern Montagnais 'assime·w' she laces a snowshoe, Ojibwa 'aškime·'

See more loan words from 1500s.