a family of North American languages of the Pacific coast
2.
a phylum of languages of North and South America, including Araucanian, Chinook, Mayan, and Sahaptin
Penutian in American English
(pəˈnuːtiən, -ʃən)
noun
1.
a group of Native American 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 other hypothesized genetic groupings of languages that include these languages and, in addition, otherwise unclassified languages of the Pacific Northwest, Columbia River plateau, Mexico, and Central America
adjective
3.
of or pertaining to Penutian
Word origin
[1913; pen + uti, schematized bases for “two” in Maidu-Wintu-Yokuts and Miwok-Costanoan, respectively+ -an]