Nootka

English

Etymology

From Nootka nuutkaa (“go around”), a direction given to European explorers reaching Nootka Sound, subsequently misapplied to the location and group.

Noun

Nootka (plural Nootkas or Nootka)

1. A member of the Nuu-chah-nulth people, an indigenous people from Vancouver Island, Canada

Proper noun

Nootka

1. The Nuu-chah-nulth language.

Related terms

• Nootka cypress
• Nootka Sound
• Nootka Island
• Nootka Fault

References

• “Nootka”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.