umiak

umiak — noun

1. a traditional open boat used by Arctic Indigenous peoples, built by stretching w

1.noun
Definition

a traditional open boat used by Arctic Indigenous peoples, built by stretching waterproof animal skins over a light wooden frame so that it can carry several people and their supplies for travelling or hunting on the sea

Example

The hunter's family loaded the umiak with seal meat and gear before the ice broke.

collocation: load [the umiak] with [goods]

Two elders showed the young men how to repair the umiak's torn skin cover.

collocation: repair the umiak's [part]

Common collocations
  • build an umiak
  • repair the umiak
  • load the umiak
  • pull the umiak ashore
  • umiak frame
  • umiak cover
  • umiak journey
Synonyms
  • kayak

    also a skin-on-frame Arctic boat, but a kayak is decked over and seats one or two people, whereas an umiak is open and much larger

Usage Note

This word is a cultural loanword from Inupiaq (Inuit). It appears mainly in writing about Arctic Indigenous history, traditional crafts, and ethnographic museum displays. A kayak is a smaller closed-deck boat for one or two people; an umiak is open-topped and much larger.

Common Mistakes

They crossed the river in a small kayak with the whole family and their tent.
They crossed the river in an umiak with the whole family and their tent.
A kayak is a narrow closed-deck boat for one or two people; an umiak is large and open, built to carry many passengers and heavy loads.

Word family

  • umiaks
    noun

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Umiak, kayak, and canoe are all small human-powered boats, but they differ in design and cultural origin. An umiak is an open boat made by Arctic Indigenous peoples, built by stretching animal skins over a wooden frame. It is wide and stable, designed to carry many people and heavy loads such as hunting supplies or whole families. A kayak is also a skin-on-frame Arctic boat, but it is decked over (enclosed on top) and seats only one or two people who sit inside with a waterproof jacket. A canoe is a broader category: typically open-topped, pointed at both ends, and powered by paddling. Most canoes are now made of lightweight materials like aluminium or fibreglass rather than animal skins. In short: an umiak is a large, open, skin-covered cargo boat; a kayak is a small, enclosed, one-person hunting boat; and a canoe is a general-purpose open paddle boat from many world cultures.

umiak ↗kayak ↗canoe ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • umiak frame
  • umiak cover
  • umiak journey
  • umiak trip

Phrases

  • build an umiak
  • repair the umiak
  • load the umiak
  • pull the umiak

Prepositions

  • in an umiak
  • into the umiak

Etymology

InupiaqEnglish

Umiak comes from the Inupiaq (Inuit) word umiaq, meaning 'open boat'. It entered English in the mid-1800s through the writings of Arctic explorers and anthropologists who documented the traditional watercraft of Indigenous peoples of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.

First known use

1769

1769, in the meaning defined above