Alaskans

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Residents or natives of the northernmost U.S. state, located in the far northwest of North America
2. Those who come from or live in Alaska, the large state bordering Canada and the Arctic Ocean
3. Individuals born or residing in the American state of Alaska, known for its vast wilderness and cold climate

Etymology: The word is an inflected form, the plural of "Alaskan", a noun or adjective for a person or thing from Alaska. Its base takes the name of the state, which came into English from Russian "Aljáska", itself adapted from the Aleut "alaxsxaq", meaning roughly "the mainland" or "the object toward which the sea action is directed", a term Russian explorers picked up from the Aleut people of the Aleutian Islands. The English suffix "-n" was then attached to the place name to make a word for its inhabitants, so "Alaskans" is simply that adjective-noun pluralised.