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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

zoongaawigane vai s/he has a strong back

zoongide'e vai s/he is brave

(derived noun) zoongide'ewin ni bravery, courage
zoongide'ewin ni bravery, courage

zoongigane vai s/he has strong bones

zoongigizi vai it (animate; wood) is strong, is hard

zoongi' vta make h/ strong; make h/ solid

zoonginaagozi vai s/he or it (animate) looks strong, appears strong

Paired with: zoonginaagwad vii

zoonginaagwad vii it looks strong, appears strong

Paired with: zoonginaagozi vai

zoongingwashi vai s/he sleeps deeply

zoonginike vai s/he has a strong arm

zoongininjii vai s/he has a strong hand

zoongisin vii it lies firmly fixed in place

zoongishin vai it (animate) lies firmly fixed in place

zoongitoon vti2 make it strong; make it solid

Paired with: zoongi' vta

zoongizi vai it (animate) is solid, strong

Paired with: zoongan vii

zoongiigad vii it (sheet-like) is strong

Paired with: zoongiigizi vai

zoongiigizi vai it (animate; sheet-like) is strong

Paired with: zoongiigad vii

zoongiiwagad vii it is tough meat

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.