An igloo (Inuit language: iglu, Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᒡᓗ, "house", plural: iglooit or igluit, but in English commonly igloos), translated sometimes as snowhouse, is the Inuit word for house or habitation, and is not restricted exclusively to snowhouses but includes traditional tents, sod houses, homes constructed of driftwood and modern buildings.
When used to refer to a snowhouse an igloo is a shelter constructed from blocks of snow, generally in the form of a dome. Although igloos are usually associated with all Inuit, they were predominantly constructed by people of Canada's Central Arctic and Greenlands Thule area. Other Inuit people tended to use snow to insulate their houses which consisted of whalebone and hides. Snow was used because its low density makes it an insulator. On the outside, temperatures may be as low as −45 °C (−49.0 °F), but on the inside the temperature may range from −7 °C (19 °F) to 16 °C (61 °F) when warmed by body heat alone.
