This article is about the article of clothing. For alternate meanings see Anorak (slang) and Anorak (newspaper).

An anorak or parka is a type of heavy jacket with a hood, generally lined with fur or fun fur, so as to protect the face from a combination of freezing temperatures and wind.

The parka was invented by the Inuit, who needed clothing to protect them from windchill and wet while hunting and kayaking in the arctic region. Underneath the anorak the Inuit wear warm clothes. Inuit anoraks have to be regularly coated with fish oil to keep their water resistance.

The word anorak (from the Greenlandic Inuit anoraq) is mainly used in Britain, interchangeably with parka. An anorak or parka specifically implied a pull-over jacket without a zipper, button or frogged opening, but this distinction is now largely lost.

In Britain, anorak is also a somewhat pejorative term for people whose interests are perceived to be nerdy, for example train spotters.

The Aleut word parka is the nearly universal name in the United States and Canada. In North America, an anorak is a waterproof jacket with a hood and drawstrings at the waist and cuffs. A parka is a knee-length cold-weather jacket or coat, typically stuffed with down or very warm synthetic fibre, and having a fur-lined hood.

See also

• Hoodie
• Kenny McCormick, a famed cartoon character from the show South Park, whose orange anorak is the main identifier of his character.

External links

• A traditional Inuit parka at the Sheldon Jackson Museum, in Alaska

Anorak | Anorak | Anarag | אנוראק | Anorak (jas) | Anorakk | Anorak | Anorak | Anorak