The Mi'kmaq language, or Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk, is an Eastern Algonquian language spoken by nearly 11,000 Mi'kmaq in Canada and the United States; the total ethnic Mi'kmaq population is roughly 20,000. The native name of the language is Lnuismk, Miꞌkmawiꞌsimk or Miꞌkmwei. The word Miꞌkmaq is a plural word meaning 'my friends' ; the adjectival form is Miꞌkmaw.

The Mi'kmaq are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Miꞌkmaꞌki.