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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

maajii- pv lex

start; begin; start off



Indaga biindigadoon ini gigiziibiiga'igewinan. Mii zhigwa maajii-awanibiisaag.

Take in your laundry. It's starting to mist now.
 es
Listen

Aaniin dash apii waa'-maajii-gitigeyan.

When are you going to start putting your garden in?
 nj
Listen

Ozhitoon gibashkweginwekizinan jibwaa-maajii-niimi'iding.

Make your moccasins before the powwow season starts.
 nj
Listen

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.