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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

awenesh pron inter who; who then

aweniban pron pret s/he's gone!, s/he's missing!

See also: weniban adv man

awesiinh na a (wild) animal

awi- pv dir go somewhere to do something, go over there to...

See also: o- pv dir

awibaa vii it is calm, is windless

awi' vta lend (it) to h/

(detransitive) awi'iwe vai s/he lends, rents (it) to people; s/he lets people borrow (it)
awi'aazom vta ask h/ to lend (it); ask to borrow (it) from h/, borrow (it) from h/

awi'aazon vai + o s/he borrows, rents it or it (animate) for h/ self

awi'iwe vai s/he lends, rents (it) to people; s/he lets people borrow (it)

awiya pron indf somebody, someone, anybody, anyone

See also: gaawiin awiya pron indf ; gakina awiya pron indf

ayabi vai s/he stays at home; s/he sits around for while

ayadaawensi vai s/he buys a little bit here and there

ayagaasininjii vai s/he has small hands

ayagaasizide vai s/he has tiny feet

ayagoozi vai s/he is perched up for a time

aya'aa pron psl I don't remember who; a being, a thing animate in gender

Paired with: aya'ii pron psl ; ayi'ii pron psl

(verb of possession) odaya'aami vai s/he has property, has dependents
aya'ii pron psl I don't remember what; a thing

See also: aya'aa pron psl ; ayi'ii pron psl

(derived noun) aya'iiwish ni old stuff; old clothes (verb of possession) odaya'iimi vai s/he has stuff, has property
aya'iiwish ni old clothes; old stuff

ayapakwe vai s/he keeps putting on a roof, keeps covering the lodge with bark

ayapatoo vai s/he runs to certain places

ayate vii it sits around for a while

ayaa vai
  1. s/he is (in a certain place)
  2. [with a lexical preverb] s/he is in a state or condition
  3. [with a preverb] s/he moves a certain way

Paired with: ayaa vii

ayaa vii
  1. it is (in a certain place)
  2. [with a lexical preverb] it is in a certain state or condition
  3. [with a preverb] it moves a certain way

Paired with: ayaa vai

ayaabe na a buck, a male deer

ayaakwaawan vii they are each a certain length, a certain height, are so long, are so tall

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.