Search the dictionary Advanced Search

How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

Gilfillan on lodges

In 1873, nearly all the Ojibways everywhere, except for the few newly removed to White Earth, lived winter and summer in birch bark wigwams. Now, nearly all of them have built for themselves, or have had built for them by the United States Government, one-roomed log cabins, in which they winter; but in front of these, nearly every family puts up in summer in an old style birch-bark wigwam, in which they pass the summer, returning to the log house when the cold weather sets in. They properly prefer the wigwam for its greater coolness, better circulation of air and greater cleanness. There are still, however, some families who from preference winter in birch-bark wigwams.
from
Joseph A. Gilfillan, The Ojibways in Minnesota, Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Vol. 9 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1901) 62.

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.