n.
Pronunciation: sh ə - ' nu ̇ k, ch ə -, - ' nük
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural Chinook or Chinooks
Etymology: Lower Chehalis (Salishan language of western Washington) ć inúk, name of a Chinook village
Date: 1795
1 : a member of an American Indian people of the north shore of the Columbia River at its mouth
2 : a Chinookan language of the Chinook and other nearby peoples
3 often not capitalized a : a warm moist southwest wind of the coast from Oregon northward b : a warm dry wind that descends the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
4 not capitalized : CHINOOK SALMON