Meanings
nounumiak (plural umiaks or umiat)
plural umiaks · plural umiat · alternative umiac · alternative umiaq · alternative oomiac · alternative oomiak
- nauticalA large, open boat made of skins stretched over a wooden frame that is propelled by paddles; used by the Eskimos for transportation.
In many regions, people went inland at the end of August (often travelling upriver in large sealskin boats called umiat) to hunt caribou till September or October.
2002, Louis-Jacques Dorais, 'Inuit', Aboriginal Peoples of Canada, ed. Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto, page 135
Origin
- Inuvialuktunᐅᒥᐊᖅ“women's boat”
- Englishumiak
From Inuvialuktun ᐅᒥᐊᖅ (umiaq, “women's boat”).
More words from Inuvialuktun
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan umiac
- umiaclarge inuit boat
Danish konebåd, umiak
- konebådlarge inuit boat
- umiaklarge inuit boat
Finnish umiakki
- umiakkilarge inuit boat
Norwegian Bokmål umiak, konebåt
- umiaklarge inuit boat
- konebåtlarge inuit boat
Russian байда́ра
- байда́ра (bajdára)large inuit boat
Cite this entry
APA
umiak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/umiak
MLA
“umiak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/umiak. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “umiak,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/umiak.
Source: umiak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.