Chiwere (also called
Iowa-Otoe-Missouria or
Báxoje-Jíwere-Ñút’achi) is a
Siouan language originally spoken by the
Missouria,
Otoe, and
Iowa peoples, who originated in the
Great Lakes region but later moved throughout the Midwest and plains. The language is closely related to
Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago. Christian missionaries first documented Chiwere in the 1830s, but since then virtually nothing has been published about the language. Chiwere suffered a steady decline after extended European-American contact in the 1850s, and by 1940 the language had almost totally ceased to be spoken.