inukshuk
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Inuktitut ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ (inoksok, “in the likeness of a human”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editinukshuk (plural inukshuks or inukshuit or inuksuit)
- A structure of piled stones, used as a landmark and traditionally constructed by the Inuit.
- 2004, Pamela R Stern, Historical Dictionary of the Inuit, page 74:
- The Nunavut Territory flag bears a rendering of an inukshuk in the form of a crucifix.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 140:
- This is a miniature copy of an inukshuk that actually stands up on a ridgeline far away in the interior, rocks piled in roughly the shape of a human, not to threaten the stranger but to guide him in country where landmarks are either too few or too many to keep straight.
- 6 March 2008, Inuit Inuksuit to be crafted and sold for 2010 Games. [headline of the article], The Globe and Mail:
References
edit- “inukshuk” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.