Penutian

[ puh-noo-tee-uhn, -shuhn ]

noun

1. a group of American Indian language families of central and coastal California, including Wintu, Maidu, Yokuts, Miwok, and Costanoan, thought to be descendants of a single protolanguage spoken at a remote period.
2. any of several hypothesized genetic groupings of Indigenous languages that include those of central and coastal California as well as several unclassified languages of the Pacific Northwest, Columbia River plateau, Mexico, and Central America.

adjective

1. of or relating to Penutian.

Penutian

/ -ʃən; pɪˈnjuːtɪən /

noun

1. a family of North American Indian languages of the Pacific coast
2. a phylum of languages of North and South America, including Araucanian, Chinook, Mayan, and Sahaptin

Word History and Origins

Origin of Penutian¹

First recorded in 1913; pen + uti, schematized bases for “two” in Maidu-Wintu-Yokuts and Miwok-Costanoan, respectively + -an

Example Sentences

The Wintu Tribe of Northern California was originally made up of nine bands that historically have the Penutian language family in common.

From Seattle Times