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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

oo pc disc oh!

oo yaay pc interj oh my, oh my goodness, oh my god

oodena ni town

(verb of possession) odoodenawi vai s/he has as h/ town
oodenawi'idiwag vai they live together in a town

oodetoo vai s/he goes to town, stays in town, lives in town; [plural] they form a town or community

oojii na fly (insect)

oojiins na a fly

(verb of abundance) oojiinsikaa vii there are (many) flies
oojiins na a fly

oojiinsikaa vii there are (many) flies

ookomisan nad h/ grandmother

ookomisi vai + o s/he has a grandmother

ookwe na maggot

ookwemin ni black cherry

ookweminagaawanzh na a black cherry bush

[
Prunus serotina
]

ookwewaade vii there are maggots on it

ookwewaazo vai there are maggots on h/

oonh pc disc oh!; so...

oosan nad h/ father

oowa pc disc [exclamation of surprise]

oozhishenyan nad h/ grandchild

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.

  • Audio recordings
  • Images
  • Video
  • Documents

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.