Chinuk Wawa (also known as Jargon and Chinook Jargon) is a hybrid lingua franca consisting of simplified Chinookan, combined with contributions from Nuuchahnulth (Nootkan), Canadian French, English, and other languages. It originated on the lower Columbia River, where it once was the predominant medium of intertribal and interethnic communication. Even after English came into general use on the lower Columbia, Chinuk Wawa survived for generations in families and communities shaped by the meeting of the region's historically diverse tribes and races. This Chinuk Wawa dictionary is based primarily on records from one such community, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Oregon, where Chinuk Wawa is taught as a community heritage language.

"A treasure trove of knowledge about Wawa in Grand Ronde, this dictionary is also a monument to the vital role it has played and plays in the lives of people there, and across the Northwest." -George Lang, author of Making Wawa: The Genesis of Chinook Jargon