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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

deadfall
n
deadfall trap
dasoonaagan ni a deadfall trap; a trap

mitigwanii'igan ni a deadfall trap

deaf
adj
deaf
gagiibishe vai s/he is deaf

gibishe vai s/he is deaf

deal
vt
deal cards
onin vta
  1. form, shape, assemble, order h/
  2. deal h/ (e.g., cards)

Paired with: oninan vti

oninige vai
  1. s/he forms, shapes, assembles, orders things
  2. s/he shuffles and deals cards

death
n
beat to death
niiwana' vta slaughter h/, beat h/ to death

freeze to death
gawaji vai s/he is so cold s/he can't move, freezes to death

have a death in family
nibooke vai s/he has a death in h/ family

debt
n
go collect a debt
naadazina'ige vai s/he goes to collect a debt

go into debt
mazina'ige vai s/he owes something, gets or has credit, buys on credit, charges to an account, goes into debt

deceive
vt
deceive
wayezhim vta deceive, trick, cheat h/ (by speech)

wayezhinge vai s/he deceives, cheats people (by speech)

giiwanim vta lie to, deceive h/

December
n
December
bibooni-giizis na [BL] December

manidoo-giizisoons na December

decide
vi
decide
inendam vai2
  1. s/he thinks a certain way
  2. s/he decides, agrees, consents

onaakonige vai s/he is in court; s/he decides, plans, judges something

onendam vai2 s/he decides what to do, figures something out

decide a certain way
inaakon vta decide about h/ a certain way; judge h/ a certain way; sentence h/ a certain way

inaakonan vti decide a certain way about it; judge it a certain way

Paired with: inaakon vta

inaakonige vai s/he agrees on something; s/he decides things a certain way; s/he makes a certain judgement

inaakonigaade vii it is decided in a certain way (by someone), "they" decide it a certain way; it is decreed a certain way

decide on
onaakon vta decide on, judge, sentence h/

Paired with: onaakonan vti

onaakonan vti decide on, plan, judge it

Paired with: onaakon vta

onagim vta appoint h/, swear h/ in; decide on h/; put a price or value on h/

Paired with: onagindan vti

decision
n
it's your decision
booshke giin pc disc it's up to you; it's your decision

decorate
vt
decorate
wawezhi' vta decorate, adorn h/; dress up, make up h/

Paired with: wawezhitoon vti2

wawezhitoon vti2 decorate it

Paired with: wawezhi' vta

wawezhichige vai s/he decorates things

wawezhichigaade vii it is decorated (by someone), "they" decorate it

wawezhichigaazo vai s/he is decorated (by someone), "they" decorate h/

The Ojibwe People's Dictionary is developed and maintained by:
Nora Livesay, Editor
John D. Nichols, Founder and Linguistic Editor

with support and collaboration from the University of Minnesota's Department of American Indian Studies and University Libraries.

Additional Resources

Many of the words in the Ojibwe People's Dictionary have related resources. Click through to the full dictionary entry to hear audio recordings, see images, read documents and watch videos. Here's a key to resource icons.

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Speakers & Regions Key

Individual speakers and speakers from different regions use different words when speaking. Each audio recording is marked with the initials of the Ojibwe speaker. Click on a speaker's initials to go to the speaker's bio page. If an Ojibwe word is particular to a certain region, it will be marked with a region code. Click on the region code to go to the Regions page.