Search the dictionary Advanced Search

How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

zagaswaakaazo vai

s/he pretends to smoke



nizagaswaakaaz 1s ind; zagaswaakaazo 3s ind; zagaswaakaazod 3s conj; zegaswaakaazod 3s ch-conj; Stem: /zagaswaakaazo-/

zagaswaakaazo /zagaswaakaazo-/: /zagaswaa-/ stem of zagaswaa vai ; /-ikaazo/
s/he pretends to be a kind of being or thing, pretends to do something

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

zagaswaa vai s/he smokes (tobacco)
(verb of pretending) zagaswaakaazo vai s/he pretends to smoke (verb of addiction) zagaswaashki vai s/he is a smoker (applicative) zagaswaadan vti smoke it (e.g., kinnickinnick) (applicative) zagaswaazh vta smoke h/ (e.g., tobacco)

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.