Search the dictionary Advanced Search

How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

nanawizi vai es
Listen

s/he gets nothing in the hunt; s/he wastes effort, is disappointed in hunting or gathering



ninanawiz 1s ind; nanawizi 3s ind; nanawizid 3s conj; nenawizid 3s ch-conj; Stem: /nanawizi-/

nanawizi3s ind es
Listen

nanawizid3s conj es
Listen

Ingii-nanawiz aana-... aana-gii-kiiwaseyaan. Ingii-waniikenan indanwiiman.

I didn't have very good luck when I went hunting. I forgot my shells.
 es
Listen

Ningii'-nanawiz gii-naadagweyan. Gaawiin awiya ningii'-nagwaanaasii. Gaawiin gegoo ningii'-nagwaadanziin. 

I was skunked checking my snares. I didn't snare anybody. I didn't snare anything.
 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.

  • 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.