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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

odiniigan nad

odis nid h/ navel, umbilical cord

odisaabam vta get to the time of seeing h/

Paired with: odisaabandan vti

odisaabandan vti get to the time of (seeing) it

odisidiwag vai they meet each other; they come to each other

odisiiyaab nid

odish vta come up to, reach, visit h/; get to where h/ is

Paired with: oditan vti

(detransitive) odishiwe vai s/he comes up to, visits people; gets to where people are (reciprocal) odisidiwag vai they meet each other; they come to each other
odishiwe vai s/he comes up to, visits people; gets to where people are

odishkodemi vai s/he has a fire or fires

odishkodensimi vai s/he has a match or matches

odita'an vti get to it (by water), reach it (by water)

Paired with: odita'wi vta [NI]

odita'odiwag vai they paddle up to each other

odita'owe vai s/he paddles up to where people are

odita'wi vta [NI] paddle up to h/

Paired with: odita'an vti

(detransitive) odita'owe vai s/he paddles up to where people are (reciprocal) odita'odiwag vai they paddle up to each other
oditan vti come up to, reach it

Paired with: odish vta

odiy nid h/ rump, rear end, butt

odoodaminwaagani vai s/he has a toy or doll

odoodaabaani vai s/he has a car or cars

odoodeman nad h/ clan

odoodemi vai s/he has a clan

odoodemim vta s/he has h/. as h/ clan or fellow clan member

(reciprocal) odoodemindiwag vai they have the same clan
odoodemindiwag vai they have the same clan

odoodenawi vai s/he has as h/ town

odoodikosiwan nad h/ kidney

odoodikosiwaapine vai s/he has a kidney disease

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.