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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

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

Paired with: wawezhitoon vti2

wawezhi'o vai s/he dresses up; s/he makes up h/ self

wawezhitoon vti2 decorate it

Paired with: wawezhi' vta

(detransitive) wawezhichige vai s/he decorates things (verb of undergoing) wawezhichigaade vii it is decorated (by someone), "they" decorate it (verb of undergoing) wawezhichigaazo vai s/he is decorated (by someone), "they" decorate h/
wawiyadendam vai2 s/he is amused, finds something funny

wawiyadendamowin ni amusement

wawiyadendan vti think it funny or cute

Paired with: wawiyadenim vta

wawiyadendaagozi vai s/he is thought cute, thought funny (comical)

Paired with: wawiyadendaagwad vii

wawiyadendaagwad vii it is thought cute, thought funny (comical)

Paired with: wawiyadendaagozi vai

wawiyadenim vta think h/ or it (animate) funny or cute

Paired with: wawiyadendan vti

wawiyazh adv man comical; funny

wawiyazhinan vti see it as funny or cute

Paired with: wawiyazhinaw vta

wawiyazhinaw vta see h/ as funny or cute or doing something funny or cute

Paired with: wawiyazhinan vti

wawiyazhinaagozi vai s/he looks cute, looks funny (comical)

Paired with: wawiyazhinaagwad vii

wawiyazhinaagwad vii it looks cute, looks funny (comical)

Paired with: wawiyazhinaagozi vai

wawiyazhitaagozi vai s/he sounds cute, sounds funny (comical)

Paired with: wawiyazhitaagwad vii

wawiyazhitaagwad vii it sounds cute, sounds funny (comical)

Paired with: wawiyazhitaagozi vai

wawizhendam vai2 s/he rejoices, is really happy and satisified

wawiiba adv tmp

wawiinge adv man carefully; completely; properly; well

See also: owiinge adv deg [NI]

wawiingechige vai s/he does something skillfully, exactly; s/he makes things skilfully, exactly

wawiinge' vta make h/ skilfully

Paired with: wawiingetoon vti2

wawiingetoon vti2 make it skilfully

Paired with: wawiinge' vta

(detransitive) wawiingechige vai s/he does something skillfully, exactly; s/he makes things skilfully, exactly
wawiingezi vai s/he is skillful, does a good job, does something well

wawiiniganzhii vai s/he has dirty nails

wawiinininjii vai s/he has dirty hands

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.