Search the dictionary Advanced Search

How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

inwe vai

s/he makes a certain sound, sounds like so; s/he makes a characteristic call (of an animal or bird); s/he speaks a certain language



indinwe 1s ind; nindinwe 1s ind; nidinwe 1s ind; inwe 3s ind; inwed 3s conj; enwed 3s ch-conj; Stem: /inwe-/

inwe /inwe-/: /iN-/
thus, in a certain direction, in a certain manner
; /-we/
s/he sounds, makes a noise
Reduplicated Form: ayinwe

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.

Word Family

inwe vai s/he makes a certain sound, sounds like so; s/he makes a characteristic call (of an animal or bird); s/he speaks a certain language
(derived noun) inwewin ni a way of speaking, a language, a dialect

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.