muktuk
UK/ˈmʌktʌk/
muktuk noun: the skin and blubber of a whale, traditionally used as food by the Inuit.
Noun
muktuk (usually uncountable, plural muktuks)
- The skin and blubber of a whale, traditionally used as food by the Inuit.
- Nearly 12 hours after arrival, the whale carcass has been stripped and left for the polar bears. As tired families load up their share of meat and muktuk, I wonder just how long this tradition will continue.1990 August, Richard Olsenius, “Eskimos pull together for a whale harvest”, in National Geographic, volume 178, number 2, page 29
- "Nathan, my baby!" Martha said. "Come get your muktuk! This my Cousin Clara, Clara Stone."2003, Stan Jones, White Sky, Black Ice
Forms of muktuk
| plural | muktuks |
|---|---|
| alternative form | maktak |
| alternative form | maktaaq |
| alternative form | maqtaq |
Origin of muktuk
From Inuktitut (Inuvialuktun) ᒪᖅᑕᖅ (maqtaq) and Inupiaq maktak (“whaleskin with attached blubber”). Spelling influenced by English muck and tuck.
Questions about muktuk
- What does muktuk mean?
- Muktuk means the skin and blubber of a whale, traditionally used as food by the Inuit.
- What part of speech is muktuk?
- Muktuk is a noun.
- How do you pronounce muktuk?
- Muktuk is pronounced /ˈmʌktʌk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of muktuk?
- The plural of muktuk is muktuks.
Words near muktuk in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: muktuk (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “muktuk.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/muktuk. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.