As a common noun, “chinook” refers to either a type of North Pacific salmon, or a warm wind in the Rocky Mountains that signals the end of winter. These words came about in the 19th century for these specific regional items, also called “chinook salmon” and “chinook wind,” respectively, but both owe their names to Indigenous languages. The Salish people used the word “tsinúk” to refer to another group of people in the Pacific Northwest, and that word became “Chinook.” The proper noun version is used to refer to the Chinook people, an Indigenous group from around the Columbia River, or the Chinook language spoken by these people. As seen here, “Chinook” can also be used as an adjective.