Waswanipi (Cree: ᐙᔅᐙᓂᐲ or Wâswânipî) is a Cree community in the Eeyou Istchee territory of central Quebec, Canada, located along Route 113 and near the confluence of the Chibougamau and Waswanipi Rivers.

[2] Waswanipi is a compound word composed of wâswân (a place to fish at night using a torch) and -pî (lake), meaning "torch-fishing lake" but colloquially translated as "light over the water"[3] referring to the traditional night-time fishing method of luring fish to light by using torches.

The original location of the village was on an island in Lake Waswanipi (49°39′N 76°29′W / 49.650°N 76.483°W / 49.650; -76.483).

Waswanipi is a trilingual community, the majority of its residences speaking the Southern East Cree dialect of the Cree language.

Aside from the elderly people, who tend to be monolingual Cree speakers, the majority of the population speaks, in addition to Cree, either English or French, some speaking both.