Etymology

kayak

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Today it means: A type of small boat, covered over by a surface deck, powered by the occupant or occupants using a double-bladed paddle in a sitting position, from a hole in the surface deck. Full definition →

Inuktitut ᖃᔭᖅ ← Proto-Eskimo *qayaʁ
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The story

  1. Proto-Eskimo · derived from*qayaʁ
  2. Inuktitut · borrowed fromᖃᔭᖅ“hunter's boat”
  3. English todaykayak

Borrowed from Inuktitut ᖃᔭᖅ (qayaq, “hunter's boat”) (Inuvialuktun), from Proto-Eskimo *qayaʁ. Compare Greenlandic qajaq and Yup'ik qayaq.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.