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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

bwaam vta

don't do or refuse to do what h/ says or asks



nibwaamaa 1s - 3s ind; nibwaamig 3s - 1s ind; obwaamaan 3s - 3' ind; bwaamaad 3s - 3' conj; Stem: /bwaam-/

Baabige iidog gigii-kiziibiiginaagane. Mewinzha gigii-pwaamin.

It's about time you washed dishes. You wouldn't when I asked you before.
 rg
Listen

bwaam /bwaam-/: /bwaa-/
unable, fail
; /-m/
speak to h/; act on h/ by speech

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.