Squaw is the phonetic spelling of an eastern Algonquian Inian morpheme, meaning "woman," that appears in numerous Algonquian dialects variously spelled as squa, skwa, esqua, sqeh, skwe, que, kwa, ikwe, etc. As an English language loan-word, used as a noun or adjective, its present meaning is a native-American woman of North America, regardless of tribe.