'baidarka' originates from Russian, specifically the word 'байдарка', which was used to refer to a type of skin-covered Aleutian kayak borrowed from indigenous languages of the North Pacific coast.

'baidarka' entered English from Russian 'байдарка' through contact between Russian explorers/settlers and indigenous peoples of Alaska in the 18th–19th centuries; the Russian term itself was borrowed from an Aleut (or related indigenous) word for this style of boat.

Initially, it referred specifically to the traditional Aleutian skin-on-frame kayak and over time has retained that specialized meaning in English as a term for that style of kayak.