means A narrow, lightweight boat propelled with a double-bladed paddle, traditionally enclosed around the paddler so it could be flipped upright after capsizing.

from From the Inuit word qajaq, the sealskin-and-driftwood hunting craft of the Arctic peoples. It reached English in the 1700s by way of Danish kajak, after European contact with Greenland — meaning the word, like the boat, traveled a long cold way before arriving.