Like many Native American languages, it features a complex agglutinative morphology. It uses the Cree syllabary for writing; the same syllabary is also used in writing the various Inuit dialects of northern Canada, although it appears that the Latin-based orthographies for these languages are supplanting the various forms of the syllabary.
The word "Cree" is short for Keristenoag, which is their name for themselves (-ag is the animate plural ending). The 'r' can also be pronounced as 'l' or 'n' depending on dialect.
A unique kind of creole of Cree and Canadian French, called Michif, is spoken by some Canadian Métis.
Cree is an official language of the Northwest Territories.